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THE 







WEST VIRGINIA PULPIT 



Methodist Episcopal Church. 



SERMONS FROM 



LIVING MINISTERS. 



WITH 



Personal Sketches of the Authors. 



Edited by 



GEO. W. ATKINSON, A.M. 



1 Oh ! the good we may be doing, While the years are 



WHEELING: 

FREW, CAMPBELL & HART, STEAM BOOK & JOB PRESS 




1883. 



'b 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 

GEORGE WESLEY ATKINSON, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



DEDICATION . 



TO 

THE NOBLE MEN OF GOD 

Who Have Devoted 

THEIR LIVES AND THEIR ENERGIES 

To the upbuilding of 

THE CAUSE OF CHRIST 

Among the hills and valleys of West Yirginis 

This volume is affectionately 

Dedicated by the 

Editor. 



PREFACE 



The authors of the sermons herein contained 
are well known clergymen of the West Vir- 
ginia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church. 
They are, in every respect, worthy of the re- 
cognition I have given them. Indeed, they 
deserve greater praise. There are others in 
the Conference, however, equally deserving; 
but it was not possible to include sermons from 
all of them in one volume. Farther on, it is 
hoped, another similar volume may be given 
to the public. 

No two of the sermons, herein contained, 
are upon the same topic. It is not often, there- 
fore, that such a variety of interesting themes 
are discussed in one volume. I hazard noth- 
ing in saying that whoever reads these dis- 
courses, will not only find them profitable, but 
will find them agreeable and interesting, as 
well. 

One new feature of this publication, is the 
Personal, or Biographical Sketches of all the 
ministers who have sermons in the book. 
These Sketches were carefully prepared, and 



6 Preface. 

in them all fulsome praise was avoided. The 
editor made no statement in any of them, 
which he did not believe to be true and just. 

The sole object of this volume, is to do good. 
It is expected that it will be read in thousands 
of the Christian homes of West Virginia ; and 
the editor sincerely trusts that it may inspire 
many, who are out of Christ, to embrace the 
Savior. If it does this, its publication will 
not be in vain. 

" In all the way through life, the Gospel sheds 
Its kind and healing beams o'er all our woes : 
And when our days are done, it lights the path 
That leads us on to brighter, happier scenes ; 
And it will live and shine when all beside 
Has perished in the wreck of earthly things." 

G. W. A. 

Wheeling, March, 1883. 



CONTENTS 



Sermon I. — The Atonement — Its Necessity, page 
By Rev. Gideon Martin, D. D 12 

Sermon II. — The Great Commission, 

By Rev. James L. Clark, D. D 24 

Sermon III. — Christ the Rock, 

By Rev. Samuel Steele, D. D 40 

Sermon IV. — The Better Country, 

By Rev. Benjamin Ison 52 

Sermon V. — The Duty op Searching the Scriptures, 

By Rev. J. W. Webb, D. D 67 

Sermon VI. — Everlasting Habitations, 

By Rev. Franklin Ball, D. D 83 

Sermon VII. — Our Mission, 

By Rev. Ashford Hall 99 

Sermon VIII. — The Triumph of the Church, 

By Rev. E.W.Ryan 113 

Sermon IX. — Why Moses and Aaron were Not Permit- 
ted to Enter the Promised Land, 
By Rev. D. H. K. Dix 125 

Sermon X. — Entire Sanctification, 

By Rev. T. B. Hughes 136 

Sermon XL — The Half has not been Told, 

By Rev. Joseph B. Feather 146 

Sermon XIII. — Christ's Gospel, 

By Rev. S. E. Steele .. 154 

Sermon XIV. — Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest, to God's 
Church and People. 
By Rev. A. J. Lyda, D. D 168 

Sermon XV. — Preaching the Gospel, 

By Rev. S. B. D. Prickitt 180 

Sebmon XVI. — God Praised by His Works. 

By Rev. W. C. Snodgrass 194 



8 Contents. 

Sermon XVII. — Soul Satisfaction, 

By Rev. George C. Wilding 207 

Sermon XVIII. — The Use and Abuse or this World. 

By Rev. J. R. Thompson. A. M 221 

Sermon XIX. — Methodism, 

By Rev. J. A. Fullerton, D. D 230 

Sermon XX. — Prayer, 

By Rev. S. E. Jones 253 

Sermon XXI. — God Seen in His Works, 

By Rev. L. L. Stewart 265 

Sermon XXII. — An Awakened Soul Solving the Prob- 
lem or Life, 
By Rev. C. P. Masden 276 

Sermon XXIII. — Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief, 

By Rev. George E. Hite 290 

Sermon XXIV. — Divine and Human Work. 

By Rev. Joseph Lee 305 

Sermon XXV. — Moral Despondency — Its Causes and 
Its Cure, 
By Rev. F. II. J. King 317 

Sermon XXVI.— Will it Pay 

By Rev. James B. Fitzpatrick 328 

Sermon XXVII. — The Attraction of the Cross, 

By Rev. Joseph E. Smith, D.D 339 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



One of the heroes of West Virginia Methodism — a leader of 
the Lord's hosts among us, is the Eev. Gideon Martin, D.D. 
Though, strictly speaking, not an old man, yet, with many of his 
brethren who are called old in the church, he has held aloft the 
flag-staff of truth for many, many years, and bore it on to glory 
and to victory. He is truly the hero of many battles, and the 
conqueror of many foes ; and for his valiant services in the 
cause of God, he is now, and always will be, held in grateful 
remembrance by his brethren and friends. 

He was born in Lewis county, Virginia, now Barbour county, 
West Virginia, April 30, 1815. His father, Stephen Martin — son 
of Joseph Martin, an Englishman, who died at Yorktown about 
the time of the battle there between Washington and Cornwal- 
lis — was brought from East to West Virginia in 1779, being then 
about seven years of age. At that time, the territory now em- 
braced in West Virginia, was an almost unbroken wilderness. 
He grew up to manhood and married Miss Catharine Eeger, of 
a family eminently fitted for pioneer life. The subject of this 
sketch was the fifth son who graced that happy union. 

Brother Martin, according to the custom among the early set- 
lers of our State, was brought up on a farm. This was his chief 
occupation until he was twenty-one years of age. In referring to 
his experience of farm life, Brother M. remarked, "I have 
always regarded it as among the most independent and honor- 
able callings ; and I confess frankly, that I have a liking for it to 
this day." 

His educational facilities, in common with others of that day, 
were the district schools — there being neither academies nor 
colleges within reach. At a later period, he was favored with a 
single term at a high school, taught by Professor Morris. As a 
compensation for the lack of a thorough education in early life, 
he has subjected himself, all through his ministerial career, to a 
rigid course of reading, and the study of theological works and 
other good books, from which he might obtain useful knowl- 
edge. In this way, he stored his mind with a large fund 
of valuable material. While I would not depreciate the impor- 
tance of a collegiate training, yet after all, a thorough educa- 
tion can only be gotten by constant application to books, all 
through life. In this way most of our early preachers were ed- 
ucated. 



10 Personal Sketch. 

Brother Martin was early impressed with a sense of his sin- 
fulness, and the need of pardon. His parents were both mem- 
bers of the M. E. Chuch, had prayer in the family, and read the 
Scriptures. All this had a tendency to restrain their children 
from evil, and incline them to a religious life. After several 
fruitless efforts, in his sixteenth year, he sought and obtained a 
sense of God's pardoning mercy. Of that one great truth, he 
feels the utmost assurance to this day. He was received into 
the church by Rev. J. L. Irwin. 

In a few years he was made a class-leader, and soon after, he 
was given license to exhort. During this period, he says he was 
greatly exercised and powerfully tempted. On one occasion he 
went so far as to openly rebel, by refusing to go to one of his 
appointments for religious services. This, however, humiliated 
him so severely, that he was effectually cured from everything 
like skepticism. 

About Christinas, 1836, he received license as a local' preacher, 
signed by Rev. J. G. Sansom, P. E., by whom he was at once em- 
ployed and sent as supply on old Harrison circuit. The follow- 
ing July, 1837, he was admitted on trial into the Pittsburgh 
Conference. In 1839, he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Soule, 
and in 1841, Elder by Bishop Roberts. Like all true ministers of 
the Word, in view of the great magnitude of the work, and 
his great responsibility, he felt that 

" 'Tis not a cause of small import, 
The pastor's care demands, 
But what might fill and angel's heart. 
And fill a Savior's hands." 

I cannot refrain from quoting a paragraph from a recent letter 
received from Dr. Martin. He says : 

"Mine has by no means been an easy or remunerative work. 
Over the hardest and most difficult circuits in West Virginia 
have I traveled — one circuit being 300 miles in compass. Be- 
sides a number of years on circuits, I have filled six stations, 
traveled as Presiding Elder sixteen years, and served in the 
Union army as Chaplain in the loth Regiment West Virginia 
Volunteer Infantry, three years. Three times have my brethren 
honored me with a seat in the General Conference. 'My early 
associates in the ministry are nearly all gone ; and my own dear 
children, more than half of them, like withered flowers lie 
mouldering in the dust. But, 'Having obtained help of God, I 
continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, say- 
ing none other things than those which the prophets and Moses 
did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that He 
should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should 
show light unto the people and unto the Gentiles.' " 

Dr. Martin preaches the Gospel with power and effect. Many 
hundreds have been received into the church by him, scores 
and scores of whom 

"Sleep their last sleep, and have fonght their last battle, 
No sound can awake them again." 



Rev. Gideon Martin, D.D. 11 

Many more are on the way. Down the years the old preacher 
is gliding, and his flock are following on. Years and storms may 
come and go. Trials, too, will gather round ; but amid them all 
will stand triumphant the true soldier of the Cross, andby-and- 
by will be gathered home to God. 
We also are passing away, and should 

"Walk thoughtfully on the silent, solemn shore 
Of that vast ocean we must sail so soon." 

It was an appropriate recognition of many years of earnest 
toil and study, when, about a decade ago, Mount Union College 
conferred on Brother Martin the hororary degree of Doctor in 
Divinity. 



SERMON I. 



BY 



REV. GIDEON MARTIN, D.D. 



Theme:— THE ATONEMENT— ITS NECESSITY. 

Text: — "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of* 
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. 

"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." — Rom. viii: 3, 4. 

Until regenerated, according to the showing of St. 
Paul, all persons are under the killing power of the 
law. "By the offense of one, judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation," and the law could not pardon 
or liberate them. But to u Them who are in Christ 
Jesus there is no condemnation," because they have 
been freed from the law of sin and death, "By the law 
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." "For what the 
law could not do," &c. 

I. THE WEAKNESS OF THE LAW. 

The law is spiritual and holy, and designed for holy 
ends by its divine author. Nevertheless there were 
some things it was unable to do. "For what the law 
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh." 
Though there were some things it could not do, being 
weak through the flesh, we are not to infer that this 
weakness was either inherent or insufficient in all 
points. 

1. That it was not, may be seen by reference to 
God's method of dealing with offenders under the 



The Atonement. 13 

divine government. The Scriptures clearly point 
out two methods. The first is of a strictly legal char- 
acter. It consists of a just and impartial statute, a 
strong executive, a prompt and vigorous administra- 
tion over subjects invested with the powers of obe- 
dience. This legal principle, it is claimed, lies at the 
foundation of all human governments. But it is seen 
alone in its perfection in the treatment of rebel angels 
under the divine administration. The process of ad- 
judication was so prompt, impressive and awful, that 
one demonstration of the law availed to stay the plague 
and preserve the unfallen angels in their allegiance to 
God, so far as we know, from that time until the 
present. Then, in its legal bearing, it is not weak, 
but "all powerful" in the infliction of its penalties upon 
those who violate its precepts. 

2. Though strong in its legal bearing, it was weak 
in other respects ; there were some things it could 
not do. It could not furnish to Adam, nor any of his 
posterity after the fall, the ability to meet its require- 
ments, or fulfill its own righteousness. The condition 
of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he tk Can- 
not turn and prepare himself, by his own natural 
strength and works, to laith, and calling upon God; 
wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleas- 
ant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God 
by Christ preventing us, that we ma}^ have a good 
will, and working with us, when we have that good 
will."* " Man is very far gone from original right- 
eousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and 
that continually." The ability to keep the law was 
lost, and to suppose the law able to restore it, is to 
suppose it able to accomplish just what the text 
affirms it could not do, " In that it was weak through 
the flesh." 

3. The weaknessof the law is seen in another respect. 
When its precepts are violated, it has no ability to 
pardon the offender. It cannot absolve from guilt, 
nor purge away the defilement of sin. It is wholly 
unable to impart purity and fitness for heaven. 

-See Article VIII of Religion. 



14 West Virginia Pulpit. 

It is the rule of righteousness, that judges of the 
moral quality of men's actions, condemns the wrong 
and approves that which is right ; but it lacks the 
ability to pardon the violator of its precepts. "By 
the law is the knowledge of sin, but by the deeds of 
law shall no flesh living be justified in the sight of 
God." " The law made nothing perfect, but the 
bringing in of a better covenant did; by the which 
we draw nigh to God. For by him all who believe 
are justified from all things from which they could 
not be justified by the law of Moses." 

Now the weakness of the law was not inherent, but 
u through the flesh." As the carnal and rebelious 
principle in man had obtained the ascendency, and as 
he was involved in transgression, the law was ren- 
dered inefficient to undo fhe works of the flesh, and 
to bring the sinner into a state of favor and acceptance 
with God. 

II. THE ATONEMENT — ITS NECESSITY. 

Its necessity is found in the inefficiency of the law 
to save sinners, and harmonize them with the divine 
government; but what it failed todois accomplished 
by the Atonement. 

The atonement involved a departure from the legal 
method, as it had become impracticable. " If a law 
could have been given that could have given life, 
then verily salvation would have been by the law." 
But this involved a moral impossibility, hence the 
necessity of modifying or introducing a new mode of 
procedure. And it was equally important that this 
new mode of procedure should be in harmony with 
the former, or, that the Gospel should harmonize with 
the law. The Jews regarded them as being opposed, 
the one to the other, and the one as making void the 
other. And doubtless much of their opposition to 
Christ and to Christianity arose from this mistaken 
view. With the view of correcting this fatal error, 
St. Paul inquired of them, "Is the law against the 
promises ? or, do we make void the law through faith ? 
God forbid ; yea we establish the law." They were 



The Atonement. 15 

not in conflict; the one by no means displaced the 
other. On the contrary their energies were united in 
one grand scheme to accomplish what neither could 
effect without the other. What the legal method 
failed to do, is now accomplished by the atonement of 
Christ. 

1. The atonement was necessary to satisfy the 
claims of justice. 

" Justice," says Dr. Bledso, u has two distinct signi- 
fications, designated by their epithets, retributive and 
administrative. By retributive justice is meant that 
attribute which inclines God to punish an offender, 
on account of the demerit and hatefulness of his sins. 
Administrative justice inflicts punishment to secure 
general good, by securing the ends of a wise and good 
government." 

Now, in what sense is the death of Christ to be re- 
regarded as a satisfaction to the claims of justice? In 
both senses ? Certainly not ; for if so, then no one 
could suffer thereafter without the penalty being 
twice exacted. Then, was it retributive justice, the 
claims of which were satisfied by his death? Let it be 
kept in mind that retributive justice required the 
punishment of the individual offender and no one 
else, and that, too, for his own offense. It admitted 
no substitute. Its object is personal guilt, and conse- 
quently it cannot be satisfied, except by the punish- 
ment of the indi vidual offender himself. But as Christ 
was u holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sin- 
ners," it was morally impossible that he should be- 
come liable to the infliction of retributive justice, or 
that he could satisfy its claims upon another. 

Then, the design of Christ's death was to satisfy 
the claims of administrative justice, which inflicts 
punishment with the view of securing the ends of 
good government, by bringing every adverse disposi- 
tion into harmony with wise and healthful laws for 
the good of all; and it is capable of yielding to any 
expedient by which the end may be best accom- 
plished. The expedient to which it yields in this 
case, was the death of Christ ; not for sins of his own, 
for he u knew no sin," but for ours. " He was made 



16 West Virginia Pulpit. 

sin," — that is, a sin offering for us. He bore our sins 
in his own body on the tree. He died, the just for 
the unjust, with the view of reconciling us to God. 
The claims of administrative justice, the design of 
which was the ends of good government, being now 
satisfied by the death of Christ, the legal barrier is re- 
moved, a new and living way of access is opened up 
to God, and now "God can be just, and still the justi- 
fier of all, who by a hearty repentance and true faith 
turn unto him." 

" For all, for all the Savior died, 
For all my Lord was crucified." 

2. The atonement was necessary, also, to supply the 
powers of obedience to the divine government. In 
the fall, that gracious ability was lost; and it was lost 
as a consequence of other losses, and not as the cause 
of them. But for this, a simple restoration of the 
powers of obedience would have been all that was 
necessary to our restoration. But sin caused deprav- 
ity, and depravity a want of capacity. From this 
view of the subject, we see the necessity of the con- 
demnation of sin, in the very commencement of the 
work of man's restoration to the favor of God. For 
this purpose, "God sent his own Son into the world, 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned 
sin in the flesh." By becoming a sin offering, Christ 
has passed the sentence of condemnation and death 
upon sin. On account of it, we were under the sen- 
tence of condemnation ; but now, by reason of 
w T hat Christ has done, sin stands candemned to death 
and destruction. Had man retained the power to 
obey, his way to God would have been by the law ; 
but now it is by Christ, who has redeemed us from the 
curse of the law. Christ says, "I am the way; no man 
cometh to the father but by me.'* By Christ's death 
the legal barrier has been removed, sin condemned 
and the gracious ability to come to God through 
Christ imparted to all. And even more; a measure 
of light and of grace is given to every man to profit 
withal — the ability to repent and to accept of pardon 
through the merits of Christ by the aid of the Holy 



The Atonement. 17 

Spirit ; and by the proper exercise of this restored 
ability, we obtain u pardon, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." Now from the very moment of our adoption 
as children, we are invested with the gracious ability 
hencefor f h to walk in all the commandments of God 
blameless, which, if we do, we shall stand justified in 
the sight of the law. But if we fail, by the law we 
shall be condemned, since sin in this case would 
be a voluntary abuse of the gracious ability to keep 
the whole law. Not that we suppose, in the event of 
back-sliding, a strictly legal course would be adopted. 
For the scriptures fully warrant us in the conclusion, 
that the back-slider may repent and receive pardon, 
though there could be no just ground of complaint, if 
God aSorded but a single opportunity to each one to 
be saved through the merits of Christ. 

3. The atonement was necessary to supply motives 
of obedience to the divine government. Motives 
have to do with the will,th* intelligence and the sen- 
sibilities of men. To avail anything, motives must be 
presented to the will, either through the one or 
the other of these channels, or through both. And 
it is owing to this fact that the Christian world is 
divided into two great classes, distinguished by the 
considerations which determined them to be religious. 
Some act from principle, from a sense of duty and ob- 
ligation ; others, and perhaps the larger class, from 
feeling. And this latter class is not unfrequently 
severely criticized and condemned. But why should 
it be so, since only a few can reason well. God has 
wisely provided us with both, at least in a measure, 
so that if not reached in one way they may be reached 
in another. I love an intelligent Christianity. We 
should all be able to "render a reason for the hope 
within us." Commenced, it may be, in the intellect, 
but if genuine and thorough, it will reach the heart 
and end in feeling at last. Can a sufficient reason be 
offered why the stricken sinner should not cry out, 
now, as did the Philipian jailor, " What must I do to 
be saved ?" Or the " heart " Christian, in imitation 
of the saints above, should shout, "Salvation to God 
and the Lamb." 



18 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Motives addressed to the will, through the intellect, 
may be drawn from various considerations. God's 
demands are founded in reason. " I beseech you, 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable 
to God, which is your reasonable service." It is just; 
"Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a 
price." It is ennobling; to Christianity we are 
severally indebted for our laws, arts and civilization. 
"Righteousness exalteth a nation." It inures to our 
welfare, both temporally and spiritually ; " has the 
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is 
to come." It includes all that is worth a thought or 
an effort. By his intellect, moral principles are dis- 
covered, appreciated and embraced; and God hav- 
ing furnished us with the powers of reason, would 
have us exercise them. " Come, let us reason to- 
gether " 

Motives addressed to the will, through the sensi- 
bilities, may be drawn from the fear of punishment. 
All who live and die in the indulgence of sin, accord- 
ing to the Scriptures, will be " punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of God and the 
glory of his power." As the wheat and tares at har- 
vest are separated, and as the tares are gathered into 
bundles and burned, so shall it be with the wicked in 
the day of final accounts. Though some urge that 
u fear cannot act as a motive to obedience," it never- 
theless does act as a motive to personal safety. That 
their city might be spared, and the judgments of God 
be averted, they repented in sackcloth and ashes; and 
to the Jews the Savior said, " There shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham, 
and Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom, and ye your- 
selves cast out." Hence, by the Savior himself is a 
direct appeal to their sensibilities. To be finally and 
forever separated from their venerable fathers, would 
be promotion of the deepest anguish of spirit — " weep- 
ing and gnashing of teeth." 

But what shall be said of the great love of God, 
wherewith he loved us as a motive to obedience ? Here 
is the moving cause of our redemption. Then Christ, 



The Atonement. 19 

the gift of God, stands as the procuring cause. The 
object had in view was the world's recovery from sin 
and death, and obedience to the Divine law and life 
eternal. The atonement was designed to inure to our 
benefit in both worlds. It involved much — Christ's 
humiliation, sufferings and ignominous death. " God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son." 
Is it possible for anyone to view the subject in this 
light, as involving all the shame and pain endured by 
the Savior in making an atonement for us, and not to 
feel — feel keenly a sense of guilt and shame? 

One has said, u a sense of duty is, indeed, a master 
power for good." But is not love a higher motive? 
Love is divine and saintly; it charms and bids us 
come. It is the highest possible motive, and is re- 
quired both by the law and the Gospel ; and having 
exemplified the love of the father, and his own, by 
laying down his life for the sheep, he asks our love in 
return. The Savior asks it as a life principle. " The 
love of Christ constraineth us," is the language of the 
great Apostle to the Gentiles ; " because we thus judge, 
if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died 
for all that they which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, 
and rose again." 

Now, although the law had been rendered weak — in- 
efficient to undo the w T orks of the flesh; and to bring 
the sinner into a state of pardon and acceptance with 
God, that work was fully accomplished by the atone- 
ment. When the law failed, the atonement comes in. 
By it the legal barrier has been removed, sin condemn- 
ed, the powers of obedience to the Divine Government 
restored, and motives of obedience, high as heaven, 
deep as hell, and lasting as eternity, furnished to 
every one. Then, if any one perish, it will be the re- 
sult of a voluntary rejection of the atonement. The 
sinner, until he repents, is just as guilty and liable to 
the inflictions of retributive justice, as he was before 
Christ died. I say, until he repents, — for " except ye re- 
pent, ye shall all likewise perish." " Repent there- 
fore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the 
presence of the Lord." 



20 West Virginia Pulpit. 

In conclusion : Though sin has debased, divided, 
and scattered our race, the Apostle sees, in the atone- 
ment, the means of our complete restoration to the 
favor and image of God; and the u gathering together 
in one, all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, 
and which are on earth." 

Then, u unto him that is able to do exceedingly, 
abundantly, above all we can ask or think, according 
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory 
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, 
world without end" — Amen. 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



James Lawrence Clark * was born in the city of Baltimore, 
February 12, 1814. His ancestors were all Scotch Presbyterians 
— his father and mother being the only Methodists on either side 
of the house. His father, James Clark, received the preliminary 
classical education for the Presbyterian ministry ; but not ac- 
cepting the Calvinistic doctrine, and not believing that God had 
called him to the work of the ministry, he declined to proceed 
farther in education for that particular work. For a long series 
of years, up to the time he left the city, he was a constant mem- 
ber of the City Council from the old Fourth ward, and was al- 
ways elected without solicitation on his part. He was appointed 
by the Council to draft a law for the establishment of the first 
public schools in Baltimore, and was sent by Council to Annapo- 
lis to secure its passage by the Legislature. After the enactment 
of the law, he was appointed by the Legislature the commission- 
er to inaugurate the schools. For a long series of years, to the 
time of his death in 1876, in the 95th year of his age, he was an 
official member of the church. 

Dr. Clark's mother, Agnes McMillan, was converted and united 
with the M. E. Church in her 19th year, and by her step father 
was persecuted for her religious choice. Thomas Paine, the 
noted skeptic, was employed to reason her out of her religious 
belief, but was worsted in the argument, and admitted that she 
was on the safe side, let it be as it may. 

James L. Clark received his education at a classical school, 
taught by Rev. G. Morrison, D.D., a Presbyterian clergyman, in 
Baltimore, who afterward transferred the school to Dr. Smith. 
He was brought under religious influences in early childhood, 
and attended the Sunday school class meetings connected with 
Asbury Sunday School, No. 3, to which he belonged, which 
school is now connected with Monument Street Church, Balti- 
mere. While a member of this Sunday school, in connection 
with other religious boys, he organized a juvenile missionary 
society, of which he was the Treasurer. It was at this time that 
the missionary fire was kindled in his heart, which led him after- 
ward to consecrate himself to the work of the ministry. 

He was licensed to preach in February, 1841, and was received 

:: '-Xamed after the immortal Lawrence, who with his dying breath said, 
" Don't give up the ship." 



22 Personal Sketch. 

into the Pittsburgh Conference, on trial, in July, 1841. He was 
ordained Deacon by Bishop Soule in 1843, and Elder by Bishop 
Hamline in 1845. At the formation of the West Virginia Con- 
ference in 1848, he fell within its bounds, and, although many 
inducements have been held out to him to change conferences, 
he still remains where Providence placed him, in the beginning 
of his ministerial career. 

He traveled the following circuits : Smithfield, Cadiz, More- 
field, in Ohio, and Harrisville, Weston, Kingwood, Palatine, Mon- 
ongalia, in Virginia, and Oakland, in Maryland. In the course 
of his long and useful life in the ministry, he lias filled the fol- 
lowing stations, and always with acceptability to the people: 
Charleston, Chapline Street and North Street, Wheeling, Tria- 
delphia, Grafton, Clarksburg, Cameron and Fairmont. He also 
traveled the Charleston, Wheeling and Parkersburg Districts as 
Presiding Elder. 

On Harrisville Circuit, he preached twenty-nine times every 
three weeks, and eighteen months of the time averaged two ser- 
mons a day. Palatine Circuit, at the time Dr. Clark traveled it, 
embraced what is now Palatine, Smithtown and Morgantown 
Circuits. I mention these facts to show the vast amount of work 
Dr. Clark has done, and the wonderful powers of endurance with 
which he is possesed. Even now, he can undergo more hard- 
ships than many of our younger men. 

Dr. Clark twice represented his Conference in the General Con- 
ference of the church. He was nine consecutive years Secretary 
of the West Virginia Conference, and for many years be has been 
Treasurer of the West Virginia Educational Society, and also 
Treasurer of the Conference Permanent Fund. 

August 31, 1842, he was married to Miss Mary Louisa Ber- 
ber, who, prior to her marriage, had thoughts of going as a 
missionary to Africa. Mrs. Clark has shared with her hus- 
band all the privations of an itinerant life for more than forty 
years. They sometimes were forced to live on potatoes and salt- 
Once, the Doctor says, their children cried for something to eat, 
when they had nothing to give them. In the early days of 
Methodism, the privations of an itinerant minister were many 
and great, and Dr. Clark had his full share of them ; but he 
always managed to weather the storm, never failing to do his 
duty, faithfully and well. He and his faithful companion enjoy 
the pleasures of a comfortable home in Parkersburg, and expect, 
by-and-by, to enter into the joys of their eternal home in the life 
that is beyond. 

Dr. Clark is still in the active ministry, and expects to labor 
still more in the field of the Master. 

The honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon 
him, a few years ago, by the Ohio Wesleyan University, one of 
the best and highest grade educational institutions in the West ; 
and it is universally admitted, by those who are familiar with 
Bro. Clark's attainments in theology, that the honor was worthily 
bestowed. 



Rev. James L. Clark, D. D. 23 

The years are rolling on, and Brother Clark is nearing the land 
of rest — " the summer land of song." 

" Only a few more burdens must he carry 

In heat and toil beneath the scorching sun ; 
Only a little longer must he tarry — 
Only a little longer ' till He come,' 

" Only a little more of life's long journey 

Through the world's desert, till the day is done : 
Only a few more desert scenes of conflict' 
Only a few more Marah's ' till He come.' 

" Only a little longer, thinking gladly 
Of the uprising of the brighter Sun ; 
Only a little longer, waiting sadly, 
In the fast falling twilight ' till He come.' 

" Only a few more billows wildly tossing, 

Beating him backward from' the longed-for shore ; 
Only a few more snares, his pathway crossing — 
Then all the trials of the way'll be o'er." 



SERMON II 



REV. JAMES L. CLARK, D.D. 



Theme:— THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Text: — " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature." — Mark xvi: 15. 

This last commandment of the blessed Savior was 
given to his disciples, and through them to his Church, 
under circumstances peculiarly interesting. He had 
finished the work he came into the world to accomplish. 
He had selected bis chosen witnesses. He had in- 
structed them by precept and example. He had offered 
himself as the sacrifice for the sins of a guilty world, 
amidst scenes the most stupendous the world ever saw. 
He had broken the bars of death, and triumphed over 
the power of the grave. He had by many infallible 
proofs, showed himself alive to his Disciples, for the 
space of forty days. And now, the t ; me having come 
for him to be received up into Heaven, he led his dis- 
ciples forth as far as to Bethany, and there, amid the 
hallowed recollections of past associations, while lift- 
ing up his hands to bestow on them his parting bless- 
ing, he delivered unto them his final command, '■ Go 
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature.'' 

How emphatic every word. " Go." You are not to 
wait until you are sent for, and receive a special call, 
with numerous signatures, well footed up with mater- 



The Great Commission. 25 

ial aid and comfort. But go and call the people, and 
extend to them the gracious invitations of my redeem- 
ing love. Do not send others out into the hedges and 
highways to gather in the poor, and the maimed, and 
the halt, and the blind, and bind burdens upon them, 
that you would not touch with one of your fingers. 
But " Go ye " every one of you, and be mutual sharers 
of the burdens and sacrifices of this itinerant system 
that I have introduced, and which I now command 
you to perpetuate. Confine not your labors to Jerusa- 
lem, nor yet to Judea, but " Go ye into all the world," 
to the gentile as well as the Jew, and proclaim the 
glad tidings of salvation, until the North gives up and 
the South no longer keeps back, and my sons are 
brought from afar, and my daughters from the ends of 
the earth. Neither limit ye your labors to the popu- 
lous cities and towns, or to the wealthy villages; but 
go ye into the hedges and highways; take the by 
paths and go out into the wilderness, and hunt up the 
lost sheep which have strayed away from the fold. 
Go to the rich and to the poor ; to the bond and to the 
free; to the civilized and to the barbarian; to the 
moral and to the vile, to every creature under Heaven 
go. and preach the gospel. 
I. In presenting our subject, let us, in the first 

PLACE, CONSIDER THE NECESSITY OF MISSIONARY 
OPERATIONS. 

1. There is a necessity for missionary operations 
growing out of the moral condition of the world. Look 
at the fearful picture that the pen of inspiration has 
drawn of man's deplorable state. u There is none that 
understandeth ; there is none that seeketh after God. 
They are all gone out of the way; they are together 
become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, 
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with 
their^ tongues they have used deceit; the poison of 
asps is under their lips ; whose mouth is full of curs- 
ing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. 
Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the 
way of peace have they not known. There is no fear 
of God before their eyes." u And even as they did not 
like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them 



26 West Virginia Pulpit. 

over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are 
not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteous- 
ness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious, 
ness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, 
whisperers, backbiters, hatersof God, despiteful, proud- 
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedience to par- 
ents, without understanding, covenant breakers, with- 
out natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." Is 
this sad picture too darkly colored ? Let observation 
and conscience answer. 

Where are those found who have never trampled 
upon the authority of God, and resisted the influences 
of his spirit ? Look abroad upon the world, and what 
is its history but degradation and crime. Look at the 
ignorance, the profanity, the licentiousness, the dis- 
honesty and the intemperance that prevails, even in 
our own highly favored country. See the cruelty of 
the savages who roam over our western wilds. Con- 
template the senseless mummeries and superstitious 
traditions of Popery, by which it makes the command- 
ments of God of none effect. Look at the devil wor- 
shippers of India, who enshrine satan in their hearts 
instead of God. Behold the Hindoo widow burn upon 
the funeral pyre of her husband, and the devotee of 
Juggernaut cast himself beneath the bloody wheels 
of the car of his false god. See the heathen mother 
offer her own babe in sacrifice; while children im- 
brue their hands in the blood of their parents, rather 
than support them in old age. Witness the beastly 
licentiousness of idol worship, where crime, and lust 
of the most debasing character, is the highest adora- 
tion, paid to heathen gods. In the general disregard 
of the authority of God, in the general prevalence of 
ignorance, of infidelity, of fraud, of violence, of impos- 
ture and of licentiousness, we have a strong evidence 
of the truthfulness of this fearful description of man's 
moral condition; and on this fact we found our first 
plea for the necessity of missionary operations. 

2. Again : Missionary operations are necessary, to 
preserve the Church in a healthy and prosperous 
condition. 

The whole scheme of man's redemption and salva- 



The Great Commission. 27 

tion, as devised by God, is missionary in its character. 
Christ, the great head of the church, was a missiona- 
ry. He did not remain in heaven and send invitations 
of mercy to our sin-ruined race ; but he came himself 
to earth on an errand of love, to labor, and suffer, and 
die, that he might gather the outcasts of the human 
race, with the arms of his love, and press them with 
filial embrace, to the bosom of their God. 

The Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit, sent forth by 
the Father and the Son, into the world, to reprove of 
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and to give 
power to the church, and impart consolation to the 
believing heart. 

Angels are all missionary beings. Whatever may 
be the position they occupy in regard to the extension 
of Christ's kingdom in this world, they are "all minis- 
tering spirits, sent forth to minister to them, who shall 
be heirs of salvation." If it were possibile for an 
anti-missionary spirit to enter Heaven, the flame of 
pure missionary zeal and love, which burns in angelic 
bosoms, would burn such a being out of existence 
there. 

Every truly converted soul is missionary in its feel- 
ings. Our poet has beautifully expressed this, when 
he sings 

" O that the world might taste and see, 
The riches of his grace ; 
The arms of love thatcompas me, 
Would all mankind embrace." 

As the Church is composed of individuals, in order 
to make her what she ought to be, God has strongly 
infused the missionary spirit into the feelings that 
flow from a converted state. And when the Savior 
established his Church, he constituted it a missionary 
Church, with the missionary element, as the law of 
its well being. So that the missionary fire, the spirit 
of aggression, is the life blood, and vital energy of the 
church. 

While the Church continued missionary in her 
movements, she flourished like the palm tree, and 
grew like the cedars of Lebanon. She marched onward 
to the conquest of the world. Heathen temples were ' 
demolished, and idol gods were thrown down, dis- 
honored, in the dust. Although persecution raged, 



28 West Virginia Pulpit. 

and storms of fury burst upon her, she triumphantly 
outrode the storms, and far and wide she spread the 
savor of a Savior's name. Illuminating the moral 
darkness of the world with the outbeamings of divine 
light, for "out of Zion the perfection of beauty, God 
hath shined." 

But alas for the Church! alas for the world! the 
missionary fire died out. The light of the Church 
waned away, until the light that was in her became 
darkness; and 0, how great was that darkness, how 
dreary, the long night of superstition, and error, that 
cursed the world. 

Once more, however, the missionary spirit revived. 
A Luther imbibed it, from a chained Bible, " but the 
word of God was not bound." A Melancthon, a Cal- 
vin, a Zwingle, a Knox, a Wesley, a Whitefield, and 
a host of others, caught the missionary spirit, and ran 
to and fro, and the knowledge of the Lord increased. 
" The Lord gave the word ; great was the company of 
those that published it." You will always find, that 
the prosperity of God's work in our own souls; the 
prosperity of God's work, in any branch of the Church, 
or in the general Church, will be indicated by a corres- 
ponding effort, for the salvation of mankind. Mission- 
ary effort is a good thermometer by which to measure 
how high the flame of oiety rises in the Church, or in 
individuals. So that for our own spiritual interests, 
and for the prosperity of our beloved Zion, the miss- 
sionary flame, like the fire on the Jewish altar, 
should never die out. The Lord kindle it anew in 
our souls to-day. 

II. LET US NOW CONTEMPLATE, THE REMEDY WHICH GOD 
HAS DEVISED, TO RECTIFY THE MORAL DISORDERS OF 
THE WORLD, NAMELY: THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. 

. The Divine being, in order to accomplish his pur- 
poses, frequently makes choice of agencies, that, to 
human reason, appears very unlikely, to effect the ob- 
ject contemplated. When our Savior opened the eyes 
of a blind man, he spat on the ground, and out of the 
earth, made clay, and annointed the eyes of the man, 
and he, thereupon, received his sight. As contrary 
to human reason as a remedy for blindness as clay is, 



The Great Commission. 29 

the preaching of the Gospel as a remedy for the mor- 
al disorders of the world, is perhaps equally so. For, 
while the preaching of the Gospel was to the Jews a 
stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, blessed 
be God, to them that believe, it is Christ, the wisdom 
and power of God unto salvation. The whole plan is 
simple yet efficatious, and is thus stated by St. Paul : 
u How shall they call on him in whom they have not 
believed; and how shall they believe on him of whom 
they have not heard; and how shall they hear with- 
out a preacher ; and how shall they preach except 
they be sent? So, then, faith cometh by hearing, and 
hearing by the word of God." 

1. But what is the Gospel ? It is emphatically good 
news — the best intelligence that ever fell upon the 
ear of man. Our Anglo Saxon word, Gospel, was orig- 
inally written Godsspell — The divine charm; that 
Heavenly influence that God throws around the sin- 
ner to win his or her w T ay ward spirit back to the Cross 
of Christ. 

If we could fully realize the condition of mankind 
without the Gospel, we would then see and leel that 
it is indeed glad tidings of great joy. See that be- 
nighted heathen, oppressed with a consciousness, of 
guilt, vainly seeking relief in self inflicted torture; 
shedding his own blood to appease the wrath of God, 
but shedding that blood in vain. Under a conscious- 
ness of his condition as a sinner, hear him as he ap- 
proaches the smoking altar, in the bitterness of his 
soul inquire, lt Wherewith shall I come before the 
Lord, and bow myself before the high God. Shall I 
come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of 
a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands 
of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give 
my first born for my transgression? the fruit of my 
body for the sin of my soul ?" But to this inquiry 
there comes no response of mercy. There is no min- 
ister of Christ standing by that altar, with the ever- 
lasting Gospel in his hand, and the love of Jesus in 
his heart, to point him to the Crucified, where the 
weary may find rest, and the heavy laden be released 
of their burdens of sin, and the agitated mind and 



30 West Virginia Pulpit. 

troubled heart be calmed by the peace of God, that 
passeth understanding. No, all is dark and dreary. 
To this poor, struggling soul, how cheering would be 
the Savior's invitation, " Come unto me all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" 
it would bind up his broken heart, and make his 
spirit glad. 

2. We will present one more view of the Gospel as 
glad tidings, before we leave this part of our subject : 
The comfort it gives under the bereaving dispensa- 
tions of Providence. Not only has sin an existence 
in this world, but death has also entered it. " Death 
by sin, so that death has passed upon all, for all have 
sinned." To social beings constituted as we are, what 
can be more afflicting than to witness the expiring 
struggles of those we love. To see the eye become 
dim and glassy, and the face ghastly and pale in 
death, is under any circumstances the greatest calam- 
ity that can afflict the human race, except the loss of 
the soul. But without the Gospel, is it not aggravated 
almost beyond endurance When death invaded your 
family circle, what would you have done without the 
consolations of the Gospel. When the parents who 
watched over you in the helpless hours of infancy, 
passed down into the valley of the shadow of death ; 
when the wife of your bosom faded away under the pow- 
er of disease, until cold in death you laid her away be- 
neath the clods of earth ; when the husband of your 
choice was stricken down in the noon of life, and left 
you alone to toil in all the woes of widowhood; when 
that little prattler upon whose fair brow you so often 
imprinted the kiss of paternal affection, wilted like a 
rosebud, plucked from its parent stem, and the gloomy 
grave, closed its mouth on all that seemed worth living 
for. Where, 0, where, in that hour of bitterness could 
you go for relief? 

As you stood by the graves of your loved ones, now 
sleeping in death, you turned to philosophy, and with 
an aching heart inquired, " Is it well with the child ? 
Is it well with the lost but loved ones of my heart?" 
But no kind response of " It is well," was heard in re- 
ply. Philosophy grew dumb at the question. Her 



The Great Commission. 31 

lips were sealed in silence, as mournfully she turned 
away and left you alone in your sorrow. You then 
turned to infidelity, and at the boasted shrine of reason 
asked the startling question, " If a man die, shall he 
live again?" But infidelity answered no, death is an 
eternal sleep. Loved ones once lost are lost forever. 
Overwhelmed with grief, and fainting beneath an ac- 
cumulation of sorrow, you were about sinking in de- 
spair, when a being as lovely as an angel of light, 
with " grace in her step and heaven in her eye," came 
to you, and while supporting you with one hand, and 
wiping away your tears with the other, she whispered 
in your ear in sweeter tones than angels use, kt The 
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall 
live." For of him it is written, "0, death, I will be 
thy plagues ; 0, grave, I will be thy destruction." 
Then, taking you by the hand, she led you through 
the vale of humility, up the mountain side, until 
above the mists of philosophy, and the fogs of infidel- 
ity, she placed you on Pisgah's top, and revealed to 
you, in all its beauty, the land that is afar off, where 

" Sickness and sorrow, pain and death 
Are felt and feared no more," 

for life and immortality are brought to light through 
the Gospel of the Son of God. 

III. UPON WHOM RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PREACH 
THE GOSPEL TO EVREY CREATION? 

To this query I answer, Upon the Church, upon 
her ministers, and upon her members. 

1. in the first place, her ministers are responsible. 
That professed minister of Christ, who sits in his study 
from week to week, from year to year, in whatever he 
may be engaged, whether in literature or theology, and 
makes no personal effort to extend the kingdom of 
Christ, by bringing under the influence of the gospel 
all within his reach, may be a ??ian-made minister; 
but he has either never been called of God to assume 
the responsibilities of the office into which he has 
thrust himself, or he is shamefully recreant to the du- 
ties of his holy calling. The idea of merely holding 
the ground, and keeping the members committed to 



32 West Virginia Pulpit. 

us on our fields of labor, never entered the Savior's 
mind, when he gave the great commission to his 
Church. 

Not only are the most conspicuous, and honorable 
places to be entered, but every part of the vast field is 
to be occupied, whether at home or abroad. The min- 
ister of Chiist is to feel that the world is his parish, 
and that to every place where human beings are found, 
there he is called by God, and by his sacred office to 
go. We are not to suppose, however, that in order to 
accomplish the design of the great law giver, that min- 
isters are to dissolve ecclesiastical connection, and 
each one for himself roam from place to place. This 
would defeat the very object for which the Savior gave 
the great commission — the universal diffusion of Chris- 
tianity. For while in this way they would often cross 
each others paths, and the Gospel would be preached 
only in the prominent places, and multitudes in the 
remote and unimportant places, would fail to hear the 
Word of Life. 

The Gospel is not only to be preached " in all the 
world,'' but " to every creature." In order to accom- 
plish this, a thorough system is necessary. Appoint- 
ment must be joined to appointment, until every 
child of man is brought under the influence of the gos- 
pel. And here let me say, that to my mind, no plan 
appears so scriptural, and so well adapted to effect 
this purpose, as our beloved Methodism. Plant down 
appointment contiguous to appointment. Let circuit 
join circuit, and conference touch conference, until, 
not only our own country, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, is covered, and every inhabitant of our conti- 
nent has heard the joyful sound ; but until Europe, 
and Asia, and Africa, and the Isles of the sea become 
a vast network of the efficient machinery of Meth- 
odism. 

2. The laity also are responsible for the preaching 
of the Gospel. 

But says one, kt I cannot preach." Yes, but you can. 
There is not a man, or a woman, or a child who has 
crossed the line of moral accountability, but who, in 
some way, can preach the gospel. For, "out of the 



The Great Commission. 33 

mouths of babes and sucklings" God has ordained 
strength, that he might still the enemy and the 
avenger. There are none who cannot turn mission- 
aries and hunt up the ignorant and vicious, who abound 
in our cities and country places, and bring them to the 
house of God; or as was first done by woman, tell of a 
risen Savior, or carry to the outcasts messages of mercy, 
in the shape of religious tracts. 

" But," continues the objector, u this would only reach 
those at home. I cannot go to heathen lands, and if I 
could go, I could not preach to them." You cannot go, 
it is true, and if you could perhaps you could accom- 
plish more by staying where you are, if God has not 
called you specially to this work. Still, you can 
preach to the heathen. In passing along one of your 
streets, I saw a newly erected house. I asked who 

built that house. The answer was Mr. built it. 

Did he cut these stones? Did he make and lay those 
bricks? Did he plane those boards and put them in 
their appropriate places? No, indeed, he did not do 
one of those things. And yet he built that house. 
His money paid the men who dressed the stones. 
His money paid the men who made and laid the 
bricks. His money paid the men who planed the 
boards, and put them in their places ; and in this way 
he erected his house. In this manner you may preach 
the gospel to the heathen. Your money can pa} 7 for 
the support of the men whom God has called to this 
work — whose souls burn with intense desire for the 
salvation of men. Men who have said, "here am I, 
send me," who count not their lives clear unto them- 
selves, but are willing to endure the hardships, and 
make the sacrifices necessary, in order to spread the 
savor of a Savior's name. 0, what a blessed thought 
it is, that while we are toiling in our counting houses, 
in our workshops, on our farms, or at our other employ- 
ments, we may become workers together with God! 
That by the bestowment of our money, we may preach 
Jesus and the resurrection to those who had never 
heard a Savior's name. What a glorious privilege it 
would be for one, or two, or more of you to join your 
means together and send out a missionary, to preach 



34 West Virginia Pulpit. 

for you to the heathen. Could you not do it? If so, 
will not God hold you responsible for not doing all you 
can? Recollect that " where much is given there will 
also much be required." The responsibility, therefore, 
to extend the blessi ngs of the Gospel to the ends of the 
earth, rests on us as ministers, and on you as mem- 
bers of the church. Nor need we say that we cannot 
preach, nor ask the question, "Am I my brother's 
keeper." God will make inquisition for blood, and 
woe be to us if it be required at our hand ! " Deliver 
us from blood guiltiness, God, thou God of our salva- 
tion, and our tongues shall sing aloud of thy praise." 

IV. LET US NOW LOOK AT THE PROSPECT THAT OPENS UP 
BEFORE THE CHURCH, IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF 
HER MISSION. 

It is said that the only safe way to judge the future, 
is by the past. If this were true, how dark and 
dreary would be the prospect of the church, and of 
the world for the future. But I cannot believe that 
eighteen hundred years more, nor half of that time 
will pass away, before the milennial glory will break in 
upon the world. A prophet once asked the question, 
" Watchman, what of the night?" The answer was, 
"The morning cometh and also the night." The 
morning did come. The light of Christianity arose 
and blessed the world, and its rays scattered the dark- 
ness of sin. But alas! the night came also, with its 
fearful darkness. The long, dreary night of the dark 
ages set in, when the profession of Christianity was 
but a mockery, and religion but a name. When vice 
stalked abroad, and sin abounded, and imposture tri- 
umphed, and everything that was lovely and of good 
report seemed well nigh banished from the world. 
But, thank God, a brighter day has dawned upon the 
world again. A day of Gospel effulgence, which will 
not be followed by a night of sin. The winter is over 
and gone, and the springtide of glory has set in. The 
Church is arraying herself in the beautiful garments 
of salvation, and preparing to go forth, " as clear as 
the sun, as fair as the moon, and as terrible as an army 
with banners." 

The propheta, while looking through the vista of 






The Great Commission. 35 

the future, have swept their ringers over the harp of 
prophecy, and have awakened its melody in strains 
the most exalted and sublime, to portray the rising 
glory, the extensive spread, and conquering, bit 
peaceful, influences of Messiah's kingdom. " And it 
shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain 
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of 
the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, 
and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people 
shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; 
and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in 
his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall 
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many 
people ; and they shall beat their swords into plow- 
shares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation 
shall not lift up the sword against nation ; neither 
shall they learn war any more. The wolf also shall 
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and the 
fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. 
And the cow and the bear shall feed ; and their young 
ones shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat 
straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play 
on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put 
his hand on the cocatrice's den. They shall not hurt 
nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the sea. The wilderness and the solitary 
place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall re- 
joice, and blossom as the rose. Then the eyes of the 
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be 
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, 
and the tongue of the dumb sing. Every valley shall 
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made 
low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the 
rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall 
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together ; for the 
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Blessed day ! 
May the Lord hasten the happy time! 



36 West Virginia Pulpit, 

While contemplating these soul inspiring predic- 
tions, we may sing, 

" Ye visions bright of heavenly birth, 
Ye glories of a latter day ; 
Descend upon the fallen earth, 

And chase the shades of night away ; 
Bid streams of love and mercy flow, 

Through every vale of human woe ; 
Till sin and care and sorrow cease, 

And all the world is hushed in peace. 
" How long amidst this dying race, 
Shall desolation hold her reign ; 
How long shall men despise the grace, 

And love of him who once was slain ; 
How long shall heathen bow the knee, 

To gods who neither hear nor see ; 
Ye scenes of bliss so long foretold, 
When will your radiant hues unfold. 
" The gospel of the living God, 

Shall echo this wide world around ; 
Till every place of man's abode, 

Shall know the joy inspiring sound ; 
Who can the heavenly scene portray, 
Who can describe the glorious day ; 
We see its glimmering from afar. 
We hail the bright, the morning star." 

Thank God, the day dawns; the morning star has 
already risen upon the world. 

V. HAVING GLANCED AT THE FUTURE BY THE LIGHT OF 
PHROPHECY, LET US NOW LOOK AT THE SIGNS OF THE 
TIMES. 

We stand on the threshold of milennial glory. 
Every where the fields are w T hitening for the harvest. 
The various John Baptists are going forth, preparing 
the w T ay of the Lord. The way has opened up to the mil- 
lions of Ohina. Japan has opened her doors for the 
reception of the Gospel. India has heard the joyful 
sound. Popery, that man of sin, who has dared to 
plant his cloven foot upon the Bible and interdict the 
word of God, will soon struggle convulsively in the 
arms of death, slain by the sword of the Spirit, which 
is the word of God. The light of the Crescent is wan- 
ing, and will soon give place to the heavenly rays of 
the Son of Righteousness. Ethiopia has already 
stretched forth her hands unto God. The isles of the 
sea are waiting for his law. The flag of a pure Chris- 
tianity waves over the tombs of the prophets. All 
spurious forms of Chistianity will soon be purified, or 
destroyed. The sun-scorched Arab, charmed by the 
story of the Cross, will give his wanderings over. With 






The Great Commission. 37 

the fulness of the Gentiles, the outcast Jew will be 
brought in. The last wanderer from God will be 
gathered to the Cross, and every knee will bow, and 
every tongue confess to God. The praise of a redeem- 
ing and pardoning Savior will dwell on every lip ; will 
be wafted on every breeze ; will float up every val- 
ley, and roll over every hill and mountain, until a 
gust of praise ascends to heaven and mingles with the 
songs of angels, and the shouts of the blood-washed 
throngs ; and earth and heaven join in one universal 
shout, " Hallelujah ! the Lord God Omnipotent reign- 
eth!" May our eyes see that glorious day, and our 
hearts feel its heavenly bliss. Amen, and Amen. 



PERSO NAL SKETCH 



Rev. Samuel Steele, D.D., is among the best known of all the 
members of the West Virginia Conference. Though in the prime 
of life, he has been a long time on the walls of Zion. From a re- 
cent letter, responsive to some of my inquiries as to dafes and 
facts, I select a few paragraphs, in the Doctor's own language, 
because they cover the desired points most fully, and are written 
in his free and easy style. He says : "I was born in the city of 
Londonderry, in the province of Ulster, Ireland. My parents 
were members of the Established Church, and under the teach- 
ings of that Church I was trained. My sisters were the first of 
our tamily to become Wesleyan Methodists, and many of the 
older Methodist ministers visited at our home. Yet this did not 
have any visible effect upon me in leading me to Methodism. 
Whilst admitting the goodness and faithfulness of these men of 
God, I preferred the ministrations of the Establishment and at- 
tended them regularly, and was confirmed by Bishop Mant, the 
Bishop of Down Conner and Dromore. 

"In the year 1839, I was led to hear the Rev. James Lynch, a 
missionary who was with Dr. Coke when he died at sea s on. his 
way to India. The text he chose was, ' If the righteous jcarcely 
be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear.' t was a 
word in season and was driven home to my heart by the Holy 
Spirit. I felt myself to be a sinner, and from that time I prayed 
more, and read more in my Bible. I continued thus to live for 
upwards of six months. Strange to say I avoided the Metho- 
dists, and did not go near them, until I found that the burden of 
my sins were too great to be borne any longer. I went to class 
meeting and gave my name to Mr. Lynch as a member of the so- 
ciety, and on the 16th of February, 1840, was savingly converted 
to God at a "Mourner's Bench," in the town of Newry, County 
Down, Ireland. The Lord blessed me powerfully. I was soon 
called upon to exercise my gifts in prayer and exhortation, but 
shrank from the work of the ministry, although convinced of my 
' call.' I struggled against this call for many years, until I, in a 
great measure, lost my enjoyment of religion. I asked God to 
release me from this responsibility, but there was a deepening of 
the impression. 

" In the year 1848, on the 12th of May, I sailed from Dublin and 
landed in New York the 27th of June. I reached West Virginia 
on the 4th of July, and shortly after handed my credentials to 
Dr. Gideon Martin. 



Rev. Samuel Steele, D. D. 39 

" I taught school for two winters, and enjoyed it very well ; but 
the impression was still on my mind that I must preach the gos- 
pel. My test for a call was that some minister must speak to 
me about the matter. One day I met Dr. Martin, and he asked 
me if I felt it was my duty to preach. I then told him of my 
convictions, &c. I was licensed to preach at Gilboa, Marion 
county, and shortly after commenced my itinerancy on Beverley 
Circuit. Kev. G. J. Nixon was preacher in charge, and Eev. S. 
G. J. Worthington my Presiding Elder. The next year, 1851, I 
went to Weston Circuit ; the year following to Wayne Circuit, 
with Bro. J. B. Blakeney, as my colleague. The next year I was 
sent to Maiden, where I remained two years. Then I was sta- 
tioned at Weston ; and after remaining one year at Weston, I 
was stationed two years at Buckhannon. I next spent two years 
on Harrisville Circuit, and went from there to Parkersburg sta- 
tion, where I remained two years. My next appointment was on 
the Parkersburg district as Presiding Elder. After serving one 
year on the district, I was elected Chaplain of the Seventh West 
Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and continued with the regiment 
to the end of the late civil war. After coming home, I was employ- 
ed on Mannington Circuit, and at the end of the Conference year, 
I was sent to Chaplin e Street station, Wheeling. In the year 
1868, I was appointed by Bishop Kingsley to Clarksburg District, 
as Presiding Elder, where I remained until 1872, and was next 
stationed at Grafton. The brethren of our Conference sent me 
as one of their delegates to the General Conference, which met 
that year in Brooklyn. We had a pleasant session of Conference 
and everything passed off pleasantly. After serving two years 
in Grafton I was appointed Presiding Elder of the Morgantown 
district. From Morgantown I went to Wheeling, where I was 
stationed at North Street, among as loving a people as I ever 
served — the most generous in their gifts, and in attachment to 
the Church unsurpassed. I am now, 1882, in Huntington, doing 
my best to sustain Methodism, and having obtained help of God 
I continue unto this day." 

Dr. Steele is an earnest, able and devoted minister of the Word. 
He is genial in his nature, commanding in his appearance, and 
draws close to him those with whom he associates. He possesses 
considerable culture, and is especially well versed in the Scrip- 
tures. In the year 1876, he received the honorary degree of Doc- 
tor in Divinity, from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, — an 
honor worthily bestowed. Bro. Steele's works will live after he 
has gone from among us ; and how gratifying it is to know that — 

Good deeds in this world done, 

Are paid beyond the sun ; 
As water on the root 

Is seen above in fruit." 



SERMON III. 



REV. SAMUEL STEELE, D. D. 



Theme:— CHRIST, THE ROCK. 

Text : — And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and 
upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of 
the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt 
loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. — Matt. XVI : 18, 19. 

There is no portion of God's word, around which 
so much controversy has been carried on, as the 
words of our text. Romanists claim that in these 
verses are contained the following dogmas of their 
church : 1. That Peter is the rock upon which the 
church of our text is built. 2. That to Peter as chief 
pastor, ruler and governor of the church, was given, 
exclusively, all fullness of ecclesiastical power signi- 
fied by the gift of the keys ; and 3. That these pre- 
rogatives, including personal infallibility, descend to 
the Bishop of Rome, as heir and successor of Peter, 
first Pope of Rome, and therefore Supreme Vicar of 
Christ, and head of the church on earth, In support 
of these startling assumptions, for such we must call 
them, they also refer to Luke xxii : 31, 32, and to> 
John xxi : 15, 17. These are the only Scriptures re- 
ferred to by Pius IX, on the 18th of July, 1870, to sus- 
tain his claim to personal infallibility, and the su- 
preme power of mastery over the Roman church. It 
is claimed that in Luke xxii: 31,32, Peter was made 
infallible, and charged with guiding the faith of the 



Christ the Rock. 41 

other Apostles; and in John xxi, 15, 17, that juris- 
diction was given him over the Apostles, and the 
whole church. 

It is ray purpose to show, that these claims are not 
contained in these texts, and also that they are un- 
scriptural and unreasonable. Some Protestant wri- 
ters allow that Peter is the rock specified in my text, 
and call him the rock man, &c, thereby giving great 
joy and gladness to Roman controversialists. They fur- 
ther say, that no attention ought to be paid to the 
difference of gender, in the nouns Petros and Petra. 
They both mean rock, and so does Cephas in John I, 
42, although King James 7 translators say it means 
w 'stone." In those days, however, men knew but lit- 
tle Latin and less Greek, so that these persons adopt 
nearly the Romanist view, "Thou art St. Peter, and 
upon this St. Peter I will build my church." But 
these good brethren, towards the winding up of their 
expositions, ask "What has this to say to Rome?" 
And then leave the Romanists without a plank to 
stand on. The contention between the Romanists 
and us, is, whether, the rock in the text, refers to Peter, 
or Christ. What is the rock ? Peter, or the truth he 
confessed, or Christ himself? Taking all the facts into 
consideration, we are forced by the teaching of God's 
word to the latter view. For Christ, not Peter, is the 
rock in First Cor. x, 4, and the foundation in First 
Cor. iii, 11. The Old Testament associates the idea of 
the rock with the steadfastness and greatness of 
God, not with that of a man.* "He is the rock ; 
his work is perfect; of the rock that begat thee 
thou art unmindful; the God of Israel said the 
the rock of Israel spake to me."f The application of 
this title, "the rock," to Peter is inconsistent with 
the plain reference by our Lord to the preceding con- 
text in the beginning of this verse. For the words 
E Ar d I say also unto thee," manifestly point out, both 
by the copulative "and," and the connective adverb 
a also," the inseparable connection of this verse with 
the previous declaration of Peter, concerning our 

*Deut. xxii: 14, 18. f2 Sam'l. xxii, 3; Psalms, xviii, 2, 31, 36 ; Isa. xvii, 
18; Plumptre on Matt, 
4 



42 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Lord's divinity. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God," and thereby demonstrates that our Lord's 
immediate reply, "And I also say unto thee," &c, 
necessarily included the declaration of Peter, as being 
the principal object of the sentence, the true founda- 
tion, or rock, upon which the church alone can be 
properly built. Because faith in Christ, that he is 
the Son of the living God, is the only foundation or 
rock of our salvation. Bearing in mind that, accord- 
ing to the second novel article in Pope Pius' Creed, 
Romanists ure bound " never to receive or interpret 
the sacred Scriptures, otherwise than according to the 
unanimous consent of the Fathers." On this princi- 
ple, our text gives the Romanists no support what- 
ever, for some of the Fathers make the rock to be Pe- 
ter, others the faith professed by Peter, others, Christ 
himself. 

But suppose our text establishes what is claimed 
for Peter, what has it to do with Rome ? " It is little 
more lhan a guess," says Littledale, "that Peter was 
ever at Rome at all. It is only a guess, that he was 
ever Bishop of Rome, and for this there is little evi- 
dence of any kind. It is only a guess, that he had the 
power to appoint any heir to his special privilege, 
whatever that was; it is only a guess, that he did so 
appoint the Bishops of Rome, and for these two 
guesses, not the smallest scrap of history or tittle of 
evidence ever has been produced." Nor can an argu- 
ment be drawn to support these pretension* from the 
mention of Peter's name, first in the list of the Apos- 
tles given in Matt, x, 2 ; Mark iii, 16, and Luke vi, 13, 
for Andrew is mentioned before Peter in John i. 44, 
and in the divisions of the Corinthian church no 
prominence is given to Peter, or Cephas, over other 
Apostles. He is classed with Paul, and Appollos 
James is mentioned first in Gal. ii, 9. And in the 
same chapter, Paul withstood Peter to the face, and re- 
proved him for not walking uprightly, and that before 
them all. Now, I would like to see a Primate, Bishop, 
or Cardinal of the church of Rome, reproving the Pope 
to his face. It would be amusing to a looker-on, pro- 
vided he was at a safe distance from the dungeons of 



Christ the Rcck. 43 

the Inquisition. Peter is called to account by the 
church at Jerusalem, for preaching to, and associating 
with, the Gentiles. Peter and John were sent by the 
Apostles at Jerusalem to Samaria.* Now, who has 
ever heard of the Cardinals at Rome sending the Pope 
on a mission? But here the Apostles send, and Peter 
is sent. Our Savior said, " He that is sent is not 
greater than he that sent him."t Certainly these 
claims of the Roman church are not sustained here, 
nor does Peter, in his Epistles, claim any supremacy 
over the church, merely stating that he is an apostle 
of Jesus Christ, and exhorts " the elders as an elder," 
and not as the infallible Vicar of Christ. If Peter 
had been appointed by our Lord, Prince of the Apos- 
tles, Vicar of Christ, with jurisdiction over the whole 
church, and that these should descend, to the Bishop 
of Rome, is it consistent with the goodness and wisdom 
of God, that he should not have mentioned it in ex- 
press words, especially when the knowledge of it, ac- 
cording to the teachings of Rome, is so essential to 
the very being of the Church and the salvation of 
the soul? 

Pope Pius IX, declared the strength and sol- 
idity of the church, consists in the institution, the 
perpetuity and the nature of the sacred Apostolic 
Primacy. Observe, the strength and solidity of the 
Church of Rome, is not placed, by this authoritative 
statement, in Jesus Christ, nor in the Holy Spirit, 
nor in the spirituality or holiness of the church, but 
in the primacy of Peter. Paul surely must have 
been guilty of a very great omission, when, in 
enumerating the several officers of the Christian 
Church, he did not mention the chief, but merely 
says that the " Lord gave some apostles, some pro- 
phets, some evangelists and some pastors and 
teachers ;"J and more expressly in First Corinthians, 
xii, 28: u God hath set some in the church, first, 
apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers," 
&c. Now, if the Popes of Rome were heads of the 
church, and heirs to_ the so-called privileges oflPeter> 
would not Paul have said, first, Popes ; secondarily, 

*Actsviii, 14. fJohn xiii, 16. JEphesians iv, 11. 



44 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Apostles, <frc? But Paul knew of no such an officer. 
He knew of no head of the church, but his risen Lord, 
who still walks among the golden candlesticks. 

I must confess that I cannot find much of this rock 
stability in Peter. His testimony on this occa- 
sion, as to the divinity and sonship of Christ, was re- 
vealed unto him by God. It was not of himself. Be- 
sides, he vacillated, when Paul withstood him to the 
face, and he denied his Lord three times. And to 
conclude under this topic, the teachings of our Lord 
are entirely opposed to such assumptions, instituting 
equality among his Apostles, prohibiting them to 
assume, or admit, a superiority of power one above an- 
other. 

There was a strife among the twelve at the last sup- 
per, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 
Did our Lord say then toquell thisstrife, I have already 
appointed Peter to that position ? No. " The Kings," 
said he of the Gentiles, "Exercise Lordship over 
them ; and they that exercise authority over them are 
called benefactors, but ye shall not be so,"&c.* The 
Master saith, " But be ye not called Rabbi, for there is 
one master (one guide or governor) of you, even. 
Christ, but ye are brethren. "f As to Luke xx, 31, 32, 
these words at the last supper were spoken in view of 
Peter's coming apostacy, warning him that he should 
fall below the other Apostles, and the words of John, 
xxi, 15-17, were spoken to reinstate him in that 
apostolic office from which he had been degraded by 
his denial of Christ. 

The Scriptures produced for the present infallibility 
of their church, relate to the time of the Apostles, and 
to the Apostles themselves. For instance, these 
promises, u The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, 
whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach 
you all things. "J It is very plain that these promises 
are limited to the Apostles, and those Disciples, who 
personally conversed with the Savior, to whom he had 
spoken, and to whose remembrance the Holy Ghost 
was to bring those things he had before told them. It 

• -Luke xxiiy 14-26. -Matthew xx, 25, 26, 27. fMataew xxiii, 8. t Jotm 
xiv: 2(5. Also xvi: 11-13. 



Chkist, the Rock. 45 

is true, Christ has promised to be with his Church 
always, even to the end of the world.* But if all those 
with whom Christ is present, are infallible, then every 
sincere Christian in the world is infallible, and then 
what will become of the Pope's prerogative, when the 
most ignorant man, provided he is a Christian, will 
be as infallible a guide as the Pope is. 

And to as little purpose for their argument is the 
other promise of our Savior, %i where two or three are 
gathered together in my name there am I in the midst 
of them/'t For if Christ'sbeing in the mid&t of them 
makes them infallible it is also certain that if but 
two or three only shall meet together in his name, in 
Wheeling, they will then be thus met together infalli- 
ble. In the words of an old writer, " If infallibility 
be had at home, and at so cheap a rate, great fools are 
they who will put themselves to the trouble and ex- 
pense of a journey to Rome for it." 

The Church spoken of in our text, is the Church of 
Christ. " I wilL build my Church/ 7 he the foundation 
and chief corner stone, will see to it that none but 
living stones'are built upon himself, the rock of ages. 
The church which he builds is called his body. Not 
anyone visible church, but u the Church which is 
Christ's Body, and of which he is the head, standeth 
only of living stones and true Christians, not only 
outwardly in name and title, but inwardly, in heart 
and truth."! Bishop Jeremy Taylor writes in his 
u Dissuasive from Popery, 1660." "If any will agree to 
call the universality of professors by the title of the 
Church, they may if they will. Any word, by consent, 
may signify anything. But if by a Church we mean 
that society which is really joined to Christ, which 
hath received the Holy Ghost, which is heir of the 
promises and of the good things of God, which is the 
body of which Christ is the Head, then the invisible 
part of the visible Church, that is, the true servants 
of Christ only, are the Church." Again he writes, 
4k Now besides the evidence of the thing itself and the 
notice of it in Scripture, let me observe that this very 
thing is in itself a part of the Article of Faith. For 

* Matthew xxviii:20. f Matthew xviii:20. J Bishop Ridley, martyr, 155G. 



46 West Virginia Pulpit. 

if it be asked what is the Catholic Church ? The 
Apostle's creed defines it: it is communio sanctorum. 
1 1 believe the Holy Catholic Church/ that is, < The 
Communion of Saints/ the conjunction of all them 
who heartily serve God through Jesus Christ. The 
one is exegetical of the other." 

In the Irish Articles drawn up by the learned Arch- 
bishop Usher, in 1615, the Church is described as fol- 
lows : " There is but one Catholic Church (out of which 
there is no salvation,) containing the universal com- 
pany of all the Saints that ever were, are, or shall be, 
gathered together in one body, under one head, Christ 
Jesus, part whereof is already triumphant, part as yet 
militant here upon earth." Barron, in his discourse 
concerning the unity of the Church, defines the visible 
church to be " the society of those who at present, or 
in the course of time, profess the faith and Gospel of 
Christ, in distinction to all other religions." He says 
of the mystical body of Christ, — " To the Catholic So- 
ciety of true believers, and faithful servants of Christ, 
called the Church mystical and invisible, diffused through 
all ages, dispersed through all countries, whereof part 
doth sojourn on earth, part doth reside in Heaven, part 
is not yet extant, to this especially all the glorious 
titles and excellent privileges attributed to the Church 
in Scripture do agree. This is the Body of Christ, the 
Spouse of Christ, &c." 

Mr. Watson's view is much the same as that already 
given. He says : " The Church of Christ, in its larg- 
est sense, consists of all who have been baptized in the 
name of Christ. In a stricter sense, it consists of those 
who are vitally united to Christ, as the members of 
the body to the head, and who being thus imbued 
with spiritual life, walk no longer after the flesh, but 
after the spirit." He adds, " taken in either view, it 
is a visible society." He differs from most of the re- 
formers in this view, as may be seen in the definitions 
of the divines of the English Church. They held that 
the whole visible church, as well as each particular 
church of which it is made up, may be considered un- 
der two aspects : First, In its widest amplitude, as a 
mixzd society, embracing all baptized persons who 



Christ, the Rock. 47 

profess the faith of Christ, and, so, are in external 
communion with him; and, secondly, in a more re- 
stricted sense, special reference being had to the por- 
tion of it which already corresponds to, and fulfills, the 
true and essential idea of the Church of God. There are 
not two Churches, the one visible, the other invisible, 
but one and the same Church, regarded under two dif- 
ferent points of view, internally as respects its funda- 
mental properties and nature ; externally, in reference 
to its outer framework and actual circumstances. This 
distinction is not happily expressed by the epithets 
"visible" and "invisible." For they suggest as Roman- 
ists have not failed to observe, the notion of two dis- 
tinct Churches, and the word " invisible " seems to im- 
ply that the members of Christ's Mystical Body are 
in no respect within the sphere of human sense. 
But without contending for the propriety of the term 
"invisible," as applied to the Church, the distinction 
to which it points is a real one, and is virtually 
admitted by the Romanists themselves.* 

According to the Romish theory of the Church, the 
supremacy by Divine right of the Roman Pontiff, con- 
stitutes the principle of organic union, which com- 
bines into one, the whole visible Church. The proof 
of this divinely instituted supremacy of the Pope, 
which was given by Bellarmine, and the older cham- 
pions of Rome, was based partly on texts of Scripture, 
partly on a priori arguments, and partly on the testi- 
mony of early Christian antiquity. This agreement 
has been met, refuted and triumphantly demolished 
by Barron and others. And the more recent school of 
Romish theologians, have virtually admitted the un- 
satisfactory nature of the old argument. Mohler, in 
his very able work on the subject, omits all appeal to 
Scripture and tradition, and abandons the attempt to 
derive from the institution of Christ, or his apostles 
anything beyond the simple episcopate. From the 
latter, he derives the Papacy, by a process of natural 
development — Bishops, Metropolitans, Patriarchs, the 
Pope. " They," he says, "who require incontroverti- 
ble historical proofs of the existence of a primacy be- 

* See Bellarmine Barron and Mohler. 



48 West Virginia Pulpit . 

fore that period, when men became fully conscious of 
the unity of the Church, require what is unreasonable, 
because impossible according to the law of a true de- 
velopment."* 

And again: " It is evident that during the first three 
centuries and even up to the close of them, the prima- 
cy does not begin to raise itself above the first rudim- 
entary traces, that its movements are destitute of any 
form."f 

To the same effect Cardinal, then Dr. Manning wrote:J 
" St. Ignatius is silent in his epistles on the subject of 
the Pope's authority, that authority was not, and 
could not be in active operation then. * * * In 
course of time, first the power of the bishop displayed 
itself, and then the power of the Pope." a A Pope would 
not arise but in proportion as the Church was consoli- 
dated." Hence it appears from the admission of learn- 
ed Romanists themselves, that the Papal supremacy — 
the very foundation, as well as the keystone ol the 
Romish theory of the Church — so far from implying a 
supernatural origin, was the result of purely natural 
causes. § 

But we must hasten to a close. Suffice it to say that 
the keys given to Peter, are explained by the very 
opposite and obviously explanatory fact, that this 
Apostle was the first preacher of the Gospel Dispensa- 
tion in its perfected form, both to the Jews on the Day 
of Pentecost, and afterward to the Gentiles. " What- 
soever ye shall bind, &c." — In Matt. xviii:18, the same 
binding and losing power is given to all the Apostles. 
These expressions manifestly refer to the authortative 
declaration of anything to be obligatory and its infrac- 
tion to be sinful, and, therefore, subject to punish- 
ment, or the contrary. This power was connected 
with the plenary inspiration of the Apostles, and be- 
yond these inspired men, it could not extend."|| 

We have now come to the end of our discourse. We 
think that we have proved that Peter received no 
primacy of jurisdiction, &c, in these words of our 

••'•'•Sect. 68, Cyprians Age. f^ect. 70, Einhert in der Kirche. Essay % on De 
velopment, p. 165. I See Butcher on Reunion with Rome. | See Wat- 
son's Inst., ii vol. 602, 603. 



Christ, the Rock. 49 

blessed ^ord ; that he is not the Rock of our text, and 
that the claims of the Pope of Rome to be the head of 
the Church, and infallible, are without any founda- 
tion whatever, in God's Word, or in the teachings of 
the Apostolic Church. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



The subject of this sketch, the Rev. Benjamin Ison, was born 
November 12, 1824, in the village of New Dale, Shropshire, Eng- 
land — four miles from Madely, the home of the sainted Fletcher. 
When about sixteen years of age, he joined the Wesleyan 
Methodist society ; and two years thereafter, he was licensed to 
preach. When twenty years of age, and after he had preached 
two years in his native land, he bade farewell to home and 
friends, and came to the New World — America. Immediately 
after his arrival in this country, October 17, 1844, he united with 
the Liberty Street M. E. Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Rev. 
G. S. Holmes, being the pastor. 

In July, 1845, he was received, on probation, into the Pitts- 
burgh Conference, and was sent to Weston circuit, Lewis coun- 
ty, West Virginia, which was then a part of the Pittsburgh Con- 
ference. Rev. F. S. DeHass — now F. S. DeHass, D.D., of Brook- 
lyn — was the preacher in charge, and Bro. Ison was his colleague 
as junior preacher. On this circuit, as in fact in all his fields of 
labor amid the hills of this Switzerland of America, he was quite 
successful in awakening a religious sentiment among the people, 
and pointing them to another and abetter life. 

Brother Ison, in the course of his ministry among our peaple, 
traveled the following circuits, viz : Weston, Beverly, Lumber- 
port, Pruntytown, Selbyport, Morgantown, Palatine, West Mil- 
ford and Oakland. Morgantown and Pruntytown, he traveled 
twice. He has also rilled the following stations, viz: Morgan- 
town, Moundsville, North Street — Wheeling— and Parkersburg. 
Some years ago he was Presiding Elder of the Parkersburg dis- 
trict, and is now serving his fourth year in the same office, on the 
Oakland district, part of which lies in the State of Maryland. 

May 28, 1850, Bro. Ison was united in marriage with Ellen 
Elizabeth Robinson, near Pruntytown, Taylor county, this State. 
Miss Robinson was the daughter of Joshua Robinson, Esq., and 
sister of Col. Robinson, who is at this time one of the Regents of 
the West Virginia University. Six children were the result of 
their union — rive ^ons and one daughter. Three only are now 
living— two sons and the daughter. One of the sons, William, a 
graduate of the West Virginia University, a thorough scholar and 
a conscientious Christian gentleman, is professor in a military 
school in Port Chester, New York. The other son is employed 
in the Government printing office at Washington, D. C. All of 
the children, like their parents before them, are communicants 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



Personal Sketch. 51 

Bro. Ison is highly esteemed by his brethren in the ministry, 
as a man of both ability and worth. He preaches with power 
and acceptability. His language is choice, and his sermons are 
always well prepared. 

He has not yet been honored with an election as delegate 
to the General Conference, but, in 1872, he was elected first re- 
serve delegate by an almost unanimous vote. He is yet in the 
midst of his usefulness, and is daily rendering earnest and efficient 
service in the Master's work. 



SERMON IV 



REV. BENJAMIN ISON, P.E. 



Theme:— THE BETTER COUNTRY. 

Text : — " But now they desire a better country." — Hebrews 
xi: 16. 

From time immemorial, there has been a disposition 
among men to travel for the purposes of discovery, 
adventure, sight-seeing, recreation, speculation, and 
settlement. To this Western World, Columbus and 
others turned their attention and their steps. 

" To this fair land the Pilgrims trod— 
This land we fondly call our own." 

The former came on voyages of discovery, the latter, 
in quest of religious liberty — u Freedo u to worship 
God." Multitudes are now coining to our shores from 
lands beyond the seas ; and here they are going from 
one part of the country to another, but mostly to some 
part of the great West. "Westward the star of em- 
pire takes its way." If you ask these persons why 
they are traveling, they will tell you " They desire a 
better country" — a country where they will have bet- 
ter facilities for improving their temporal condition, 
and perhaps enjoy greater religious privileges. Many 
succeed, some even get rich, while thousands acquire 
a home and a competence. But numbers are doomed to 
disappointment. Many who embark for these shores 
never reach them. Through rocks, and storms, and 
fires, and collisions, they find a watery grave; while 
many, who attempt to change their places of abode by 
going from one State to another, after traveling many 






The Better Country. 53 

long, weary miles, undergoing many hardships, and 
sometimes spending their little all, return to the 
places from which they set out, having learned from 
sad experience that "It is not all gold that glitters," 
and that often 

" 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." 

Christians are "strangers and pilgrims" on the earth. 
Having" no abiding city" here, they "seek one to 
come." " This is not their rest, because it is poluted." 
"They desire a better country, that is a heavenly." 
And animated and influenced by this desire to the 
end, they are never disappointed. This was the dy- 
ing testimony of our beloved Bishop Janes. "lam 
not disappointed." Millions have reached " the shin- 
ing shore," and millions more are on their way, to 
whom "an abundant entrance will be ministered 
unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ." In the text, the Apostle is speaking 
of some of the Old Testament saints. "They desired 
a better country." But this is true of good men of all 
ages and all climes. Job said : "I would not live 
alway;" and Paul "desired to depart and be with 
Christ," which, he said, was "far better." 

In pursuing this theme, for our mutual edification 
and encouragement, I shall consider, 

i. the object of the christian's desire — "a better 



Our heavenly Father, knowing the dullness of our 
apprehension, to stimulate u? in our Christian course, 
has given us some conception of heaven by familiar 
comparisons. He calls it " a house," " a kingdom," " a 
city," "an inheritance," " Paradise," and in the text, "a 
better country." It is better than was Ur, of the Chal- 
dees, which Abraham left for the land of Canaan. It is 
better than was the land of Canaan itself, in its 
palmy days, though that was "a goodly land," a land 
of abundance, "a land flowing with milk and honey." 
It is better than this world, the Christians' present 
dwelling place, or any part of it. And it is as con- 
trasted with this world that I shall speak of it. The 



54 West Virginia Pulpit. 

language of the text does not imply that this is alto- 
gether a bad world, but the contrary. Although sin 
has greatly deranged and injured it, yet still there is 
much of beauty, much of loveliness, much of happi- 
ness in it. But heaven is a better country, superla- 
tively better, infinitely better. It is so, 

1. With respect to the character of its inhabitants. 
It has been truthfullv said that it is the people that 
make a country. Hence we would rather live in un- 
congenial climes, where civilization reigns, than in 
regions more favored by nature, but where ignorance 
and its concomitants abound. In this life, there is a 
mixture of good and evil. The tares and the wheat 
grow together. The godly and the ungodly associate. 
They sit together in church, they belong to the same 
family and eat at the same table. They mingle at 
the social party, and meet for the transaction of busi- 
ness. And often are the souls of the righteous " vexed 
with the filthy conversation of the wicked." They 
behold the transgressors and are grieved. But in that 
better land, " The wicked cease from troubling and 
the weary are at rest." In the language of the pro- 
phet Isaiah, the people are "all righteous." In the 
great multitude that John saw before the throne, 
there was not one ungodly person, not one hypocrite 
or unbeliever. The society there is composed of the 
pure and good of all ages and all countries, " who have 
washed their robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb;" of holy angels who never knew sin; 
and of the Triune God who is " glorious in holiness." 

Heaven is the region of sinless perfection. "No sin 
in heaven is found." "No shadow of evil is there " 
There is no dark suspicion, no evil surmising, no 
cruel envy, or hatred, or jealousy, no bad passions or 
bad principles. 

"There love, unchanging love abounds." 

" There joy, like morning dew, distills, 
And all the air is love." 

" There friend holds fellowship with friend," 

And there is no enemy to interrupt or annoy. Hap- 
py country ! Blessed people ! 



The Better World. 55 

2. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
government and laws. These, of course, have much 
to do with the happiness of a people. Hence many 
come from under the despotisms of the old world to 
live under our free and mild government. Every- 
thing considered, ours, is doubtless, the best govern- 
ment in the world. But who would dare to say that 
it is perfect ? Imperfection pertains to everything 
human. If we could collect together the wisest states- 
men and the purest patriots on earth, to make laws 
and to frame systems of government, they could not 
make them perfect. But the laws governing the 
inhabitants of the better land are absolutely perfect. 
Like their divine author, they arc "holy, just and 
good." They are a transcript of the divine mind. 
His will is the law of his people. And " what he wills 
is best." He is infinitely wise and infinitely good. 
He loves his people and delights in their happiness, 
and they are h;ippy in doing his will. " His com- 
mandments are not grievous, and in keeping of them 
there is great reward." 

Again : A good government may not be well admin- 
istered. The laws may not be justly executed. Jus- 
tice may not always be done. In our own free and 
happy land, so-called, men with money and friends 
often violate the laws with impunity, while the poor 
man goes to the wall. " Wealth makes many friends, 
but the poor is separated from his neighbor." But in 
the better country, all are equal before the law. "God 
is no respecter of persons." He "rewards every man 
according to his works," having respect not only to 
the quality but also to the quantity. They that do 
most ai d suffer most for Christ and his cause, and 
that take most holiness to heaven will have the high- 
est positions and the richest rewards in the heavenly 
world. "As one star differeth from another star in 
glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." " They 
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment, and they that turn many to righteousness, as 
the stars for ever and ever." St. John informs us 
that they who had come out of great tribulation, hav- 
ing washed their robes and made them white in the 



56 West Virginia Pulpit. 

blood of the Lamb, were, for this reason, " before the 
throne of God." 

3. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
climate and healthfulness. There is no excessive 
heat or cold, no torrid or frigid zone. " For," says St. 
John, " Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any 
heat ;" and the absence of the opposite discomfort may 
reasonably be inferred. There are no scorching si- 
moons, no chilling winds, no destructive tempests, no 
vitiated air, no impure water, no unwholesome food, 
no blighting mildew, no poisonous elements, in short, 
nothing to induce disease and death. The causes be- 
ing absent, the effects, of course, do not exist. In that 
" sunbright clime" there are no burning fevers, no 
racking pains, no weakening consumption, no feeble 
and tottering old age, "no weary wasting of the frame 
away." There are no sick beds, no houses of mourning, 
no cities of the dead. For u there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying." There is " life for- 
evermore." How different it is in this world ! Here, 
we are in constant danger. The elements war against 
us. We inhale disease from the atmosphere. We 
take it in our food and drink. 

"Death rides on every passing breeze, 
And lurks in every flower. 
Each season has its own disease, 
Its peril, every hour." 

Fires, famines, floods, storms, earthquakes, diseases, 
epidemics, accidents on land and on sea, all combine 
to hurry man to his u long home," while * 4 the mourn- 
ers go about the streets." This world has been cnlled 
"the land of the living," but it is also the land of the 
dying. There is no place in this wide, wide world, 
however healthful, that is exempt from disea e and 
death. I have seen the invalid, with hectic flush and 
pale blue eyes and almost transparent hands, leaving 
home in care of friends, in search of health, by a 
change of air and scenery. But he has returned home 
disappointed, or strangers' hands have closed his eyes 
in death. There is but one place known to us in the 
vast dominions of the Almighty where disease and 
death enter not; that place is heaven. There only 
are life and immortality. There grows the tree of life, 



The Better Country. 57 

there flows the river of life, and to these the inhabi- 
tants have constant access, and live forever — they are 
u forever with the Lord." 

4. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
scenery and prospects. 

There are lovely views to be had in this world. We 
have the beautiful and the sublime, the romantic and 
the picturesque. We have grand old forests, moss 
covered rocks, towering mountains, lovely hills and 
valleys, dashing cascades, and beautiful, meandering 
streams. Then we have the beauties of nature and 
art combined. There is the palatial mansion, with 
its corresponding surroundings, its grassy lawn, its 
beautiful and fragrant flowers, its terraced slopes, its 
sparkling fountains, its ornamental statuary, its gaily 
plumaged birds — in short, everything to please the 
eye. But all this is only a faint emblem of the heav- 
enly landscape. We read of " a river of water of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God 
and of the Lamb." On either side of the river grows 
the tree of life, bearing iC twelve manner of fruits," 
"and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the 
nations." There is the city whose walls are of jasper 
and gold, her buildings clear as crystal, her founda- 
tions, all manner of precious stones; and her gates, of 
pearl. The inhabitants thereof, are clothed in white 
robes ; they wave verdant palms, and tune harps of 
gold. And yet " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, 
neither have entered the heart of man, what the Lord 
hath laid up for them that love him." tfc We walk by 
faith, not by sight." Again: In this world, night 
periodically shuts out the beauties of creation from 
our sight. But u there shall be no night there." 

"All o'er those wide extended plains, 
Shines one eternal day." 

Moreover, in this world, in consequeuce of the rotund- 
ity of the earth and of our imperfect sight, our views 
are circumscribed and limited. But there, our sight 
will be perfect, and our views wide, extensive, illimit- 
able. " Shores in sunlight stretch away ;" away, ad 
infinitum. Moses, the servant of God, was permitted, 
from the top of Pisgah, to view the land of Canaan, in 



58 West Virginia Pulpit. 

all its length and breadth, but not to enter upon it. 
But the Christian, at the end of life's pilgrimage, 
will have an abundant entrance into the heavenly- 
Canaan, and will u view the landscape o'er." His 
eyes shall " see the King in his beauty: they shall 
behold the land that is [now] very far off." 

5. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
employments and pleasures. Our employments here 
are laborious. It is the lot of mortals to toil, either with 
the body or mind ; and labor, either physical or men- 
tal, is "a weariness of the flesh." Even the service 
of God, with these dull bodies about us, often causes 
weariness. Oar employments in heaven will, doubt- 
less, consist, in part, of the worship of God and the 
study of his character and works; conversation with 
saints and angels; and in offices of mutual kindness 
and love. More than this we do not know. But 
these dull bodies will be left behind, and when raised 
again, will be spiritualized and made like the glori- 
ous body of Christ. Their powers will be vigorous 
and incapable of decay, and the service of our heav- 
enly Father will give pleasure without pain and exer- 
cise, without weariness; yea, " fullness of joy and 
pleasures for evermore." 

6. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
supplies. It is a land of abundance. There is no 
scarcity there. No famine can ever reach it. There, 
poverty is unknown. There, none has ever felt, or 
ever will feel, the pangs of hunger or the pains of 
thirst. " For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the 
throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to living 
fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes." There, every want is supplied, 
every desire gratified. The inhabitants lack no good 
thing. " In our Father's house there is bread enough 
and to spare." " There is a river, the streams where- 
of make glad the city of God." 

7. Heaven is a better country with respect to its 
duration. There is nothing certain in this uncertain 
world. The brightest flowers fade, the dearest friends 
part. Wealth makes to itself wings and flies away. 



The Better Country. 59 

Honors and pleasures are ephemeral. The earth 
itself, will finally disappear. 

" The cleud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve ! 
And like this unsubstantial pageant faded, 
Leave not a rack behind." 

" The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the 
earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
burned up " But " the saints of the Most High shall 
take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever 
and ever.' 7 When we read in the Scriptures of " the 
saints' secure abode," we usually find everlasting dur- 
ation associated w T ith it. It is u a kingdom, that can- 
not be moved ;" "a house not made with hands, eternal in 
the heavens ;" " an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away ;" u a city which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God;" it is u life eternal" and 
everlasting joy. There is, therefore, freedom from all 
fear of falling, from all fear of suffering, and from fear 
of loss. There is a feeling of perfect security and, 
consequently, of perfect satisfaction and peace. It is 
no wonder, therefore, that wise and good men desire 
this country, and that sometimes they even u languish 
and sigh to be there." 

Let us consider, 

II. WHAT THE CHRISTIAN'S DESIRE IMPLIES. 

1. It implies faith in the existence of a better coun- 
try. a Desire," says Webster "is a wish to possess 
some gratification or source of happiness supposed to 
be obtainable" It would be absurd to desire some- 
thing that is unattainable, and that has no exist- 
ence. But the good and wise "desire abetter country," 
and God, our maker, is too good to raise hopes, or ex- 
cite desires, which he does not intend to gratify. 

" Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 

This longing after immortality ? 

'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ; 

'Tis heaven itself that points out a hereafter, 

And intimates eternity to man." 



60 West Virginia Pulpit. 

The more enlightened heathen believed in a future 
life. The polished Greeks had their Elysium for the 
good and virtuous. And even 

" The poor Indian, whose untutored mind, 
Sees God in storms and hears him in the wind ; 
His soul, proud science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk and milky way. 
Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
Behind the cloud-topped hills, a humbler heaven." 

But life and immortality have been brought to 
light by the Gospel. He, who gave evidence that he 
is the Son of God, said to his disciples, " Let not your 
heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in 
me." Now, as rational beings, we believe on evidence. 
We receive the testimony of credible witnesses. We 
believe there are such quarters of the globe as Asia 
and Africa, and such countries as Russia and Turkey, 
although we may never have been there ; but we have 
read the histories and geographies of these countries, 
written by men who have been there, or who, by some 
other unmistakable way have become acquainted 
with them. Now, if we receive the testimony of men, 
the testimony of God is greater. The truth of the 
Scriptures has been established beyond the possibility 
of a doubt, to the minds of thinking Christian men, 
and they reveal to our faith a heavenly world. To 
say nothing <,f the testimony of the patriarchs, pro- 
phets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself assures us of 
u a better country." He came from that country and 
returned to it again. And before returning, he said 
to his disciples, " In my Father's house are many 
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. 
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again and receive you un- 
to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." 
An old divine remarks, "If it were not so, he could 
have told them, for he gave evidence that ' in him 
were all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' If 
it were not so, he would have told them, for he proved 
to them, and to the world, that he was a being of 
boundless benevolence and unwavering truth. But 
it was so, and, therefore, he assured them of the fact." 
such, then, is the evidence for our faith to rest upon, 



The Better Country. 61 

that not to believe is unreasonable and wicked. Dr. 
Young says, 

" Believe, and show the reason of a man ; 
Believe, and taste the pleasures of a God ; 
Believe, and look with triumph on the tomb." 

A sacred writer says, " Now faith is the substance 
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 

2. This desire implies knowledge of that country. 
A man desiring to remove to some country, for the 
purpose of making his home there, evidently knows 
something of that country, which makes it desirable. 
It is reasonable to suppose this. The Bible is the first 
and principal source of our information concerning 
the better land. There we read of its character and 
attractions ; its intelligent and pure society ; its 
freedom from sin and sorrow ; its uninterrupted 
peace ; its undisturbed rest ; its pure pleasure ; its 
ceaseless songs; its endless happiness, springing 
from the communion of saints and angels, and the 
vision of God. A dying Christian once said, U I am 
going to heaven, and I shall be no stranger there. I 
have been there a thousand times by faith, and many 
of my friends are there ; and above all, my Savior is 
there, whom I have known for lo, these many years.' 7 

We know there is a heavenly world by experience, or 
the foretaste voe have of it. We " taste the good word of 
God, and the powers of the world to come." When the 
spies brought of the fruits of the land of Canaan, the 
people knew that it was a goodly land, and a land to 
be desired. The fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, 
long-suffering, temperance, patience, gentleness, which 
are found in renewed hearts, are not indigenous to 
this world. They are exotics, and are impeded in 
their growth by unfavorable influences. But they 
grow to perfection in that better land. 

We know there is a better world than this, by the 
testimony of dying friends. They often tell us of the 
sights they see, and of the sounds they hear. They 
have glorious visions and revelations of their heav- 
enly home. Angels stand around their beds, and 
they see loved ones that have gone before. As 

" The world recedes and disappears, 
Heaven opens on their eyes ; their ears 
With sounds seraphic ring." 



62 West Virginia Pulpit. 

And we then say, "Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his." 

3. This desire for the better country implies, efforts 
to reach it. " One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
that will I seek after," says the Psalmist, " that I may 
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, 
to behold the beauty ol the Lord, and to inquire in 
his temple." If a man truly and earnestly desires to 
go to some country in this world, which he considers 
better than his native land, he will take steps to 
gratify this desire: in other words, he will make ar- 
rangements to go, and will start on his journey. The 
Christian manifests his desire for the better country 
by his holy walk and godly deportment. He says, by 
his heavenly conversation, that his " kingdom is not 
of this world;" and they that say such things, declare 
plainly that they seek a country " — " a better country, 
that is, a heavenly." They " look not at the things 
which are seen, and are temporal, but at the things 
which are not seen, and are eternal." They " set 
their affections on things above, not on things on the 
earth." A good man, now in heaven, whose children 
had left him in England, to come to this country, 
said that he had a longing desire to come after them, 
and as soon as he could make the arrangements, he 
followed in their steps, and found a home with them 
till he went to his home above. Good men on earth, 
are " followers of them who through faith and pa- 
tience inherit the promises." 

4. The Christian's desire for the better country, im- 
plies efforts to induce others to seek it. Moses said to 
Hobab, " We are journeying to the place of which the 
Lord hath said, I will give it you. Come then with 
us and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken 
good concerning Israel." Those who are going 
to heaven themselves, desire others to accompany 
them. First, because they are social beings — they 
love congenial company. Good company makes the 
way still more pleasant. Secondly, because they are 
unselfish and loving. They love their neighbors, 
friends, acquaintances, and fellow-beings in general, 
as themselves. Finding the way to heaven peaceful 



The Better Country. 63 

and pleasant, and knowing that it leads to joys im- 
mortal, they say to the wanderers from God as they 
pass along, " Come with us." " The Spirit and the 
Bride" — God and the Church — "say come." 

I cannot conclude this sermon better than by giv- 
ing the beautiful poem of Mrs. Hemans, on 

THE BETTER LAND. 

" I hear thee speak of the better land: 
Thou callest its children a happy band : 
Mother ! O where is that radiant shore ? 
Shall we not seek it and weep no more ? 
Is it where the flower of the orange blows, 
And the fire-flies dance through the myrtle boughs? 
— ' Not there, not there, my child !' 

4 ' Is it where the feathery palm trees rise, 
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies, 
Amid the green islands of glittering seas, 
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze, 
And strange bright birds on their starry wings, 
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things? 
— ' Not there, not there, my child !' 

11 Is it far away in some region old, 
Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold, 
And the burning rays of the ruby shine. 
And the diamond lights up the secret mine, 
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand? 
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land ? 
— ' Not there, not there, my child !' 

" Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy: 
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy; 
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair: 
Sorrow and death may not enter there. 
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom 
Far beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb, 
—It is there, it is there, my child !" 

Yes, my brethren, it is there. 

"When the good man yields his breath 
(For the good man never dies), 
Bright beyond the vale of death 
Lo ! the land of promise lies!" 

There are gathered the good, the pure, and the true, 
who have departed this life. Among them are some 
in whose company w r e once delighted, who lessened 
our pains, and enhanced our pleasures, strewing flow- 
ers of love and kindness in our pathway, and helping 
to make our lives cheerful and bright. Much of the 
sunshine left our homes and our hearts when they 
passed away, and we have often felt lonely without 
them. They will not return to us, but we may go to 
them. They are now within the beautiful gates, 
awaiting our arrival. But the best of all is, our 



64 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Saviour is there. He is the great attraction. He is 
the light and joy of the place. "All, all we want is 
there." " Then where our treasure is, let our hearts 
be also." 

To the unconverted, let me say, Live no longer in 
the indulgence of " worldly lusts." Pursue no longer 
the pleasures of sin, but seek the joys that never fade. 
You are going to your " long home;" you are traveling 
to the grave. Will you not turn your feet to God's 
testimonies, and journey to the u better land ?" 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



Kev. J. Wesley Webb, D.D., was born June 5th, 1826, on 
Mossy creek, Augusta county, Virginia. When the subject of 
this sketch was but twelve years of age, his father died, and, in 
consequence of which, he was thrown upon his own resources 
to procure an education. Availing himself, however, of the ed- 
ucational advantages, for which the Valley of Virginia has al- 
ways been noted, Bro. Webb made rapid progress, and at the age 
of nineteen, became principal of the Middlebrook Academy . He 
remained in this position for three years, when he was chosen 
principal of Roller's Seminary, a position which he filled, for a 
considerable period, with great acceptability. His tastes, how- 
ever, were not in the line of teaching, so he took up the study of 
medicine at Harrisonburg, Virginia, with the renowned Dr. Clay 
of that place. 

Dr. Webb was the subject of early religious impressions, and 
united with the Church under the pastoral care of Eev. B. N. 
Brown, of the Baltimore conference. Shortly after his conversion, 
the call to the ministry was very plainly heard and felt ; conse- 
quently he closed his medical books, and gave himself to the 
Master's work. In 1850, he entered the Gospel ministry, and for 
more than thirty years has been a herald of the Cross. Like 
him who wrote one of our most beautiful hymns, Bro. Webb can, 
no doubt, say : 

11 1 love to tell the story ; 

For those who know it best, 
Seem hungering and thirsting, 

To hear it like the the rest. 
And when, in scenes of glory, 

I sing the new, new, song, 
'Twill be— the o]d, old story, 

That I have loved so long." 

In 1853, Dr. Webb came to W T est Virginia to take charge of the 
Buckhannon Academy (Baxter's Institute); and at the close of a 
very successful term, he entered the West Virginia Conference, 
at Fairmont, in June, 1854. Since that time he has supplied 
some of the best charges in the conference. 

As an expression of the esteem of his brethren, he was elected 
on the first ballot, as a delegate to the General Conference, which 
met in Brooklyn in the year 1872. He made a very efficient 
delegate, and was elected a member of the Publishing Commit- 
tee of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, for four years. 



66 Personal Sketch. 

As a preacher, Dr. Webb ranks high. His sermons, though 
carefully written before hand, are delivered without even notes, 
and often with wondrous unction and eloquence. Persons who 
have heard him in his happiest efforts, bear testimony to the 
thrilling effect produced on the congregation by his earnest dis- 
courses. He has executive ability of no ordinary character, and 
makes a first-class Presiding Elder. While Presiding Elder of 
Morgantown and Guyandotte Districts, fifty churches and par- 
sonages were built under his administration. He has been in- 
strumental, as Pastor and Presiding Elder, in the erection of be- 
tween sixty and seventy churches and parsonages. 

As a recognition of his literary and theological attainments, 
the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon 
him by Mount Union College some years ago. Dr. Webb still 
applies himself closely to reading and study, and keeps up with 
the times — making his sermons fresh and vigorous. At present 
he is stationed at Triadelphia — a suburban town of the city of 
Wheeling. 



SERMON V.* 



BY 



REV. J. WESLEY WEBB, D.D. 



Theme :— THE DUTY OF SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES. 

Text : — " Search the Scriptures." — John v : 39. 

There exists many exalted and infallible proofs of 
the divine authority and unadulterated truth of the 
Holy Scriptures, as embodied in the Book called the 
Bible. And even if these proofs of their divinity 
were taken away, yet there remains all the marks of 
genuineness and truth that can be brought in support 
of any other ancientr record, or that may be required 
to authenticate the circumstances of this generation 
two hundred years hence. Then, he, who can reject 
the sacred writings as spurious, may with less pre- 
sumption and more reason reject any other moral 
truth. The text, in the original, is ambiguous, and 
may be translated, " Ye do search the Scriptures," or 
as it now stands in our rendering, " Search the Scrip- 
tures." In the remarks we shall make upon the sub- 
ject, your attention will be directed, 

I. LET US EXAMINE THE PROPRIETY OF THIS REQUIRE- 
MENT, AND THE REASONS WHY WE ARE REQUIRED 
TO " SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES." 

A careful investigation of these sacred records will 
readily convince us that all the divine claims are 
founded in justice and sustained by the highest reas- 
ons. We will, at the same time, be surprised at their 
wise and beautiful adaptation to all the circumstances 

f -Preached before the West Virginia Conference, at Charleston, Oct. 6, 1877. 



68 West Virginia Pulpit. 

and relations of man. The requirement in the text 
is made with reference to the general good that will 
follow, as a natural consequence, our compliance with 
it. Our subject, when considered in its consequence, 
is equivalent to a command or requirement to be 
wise. And who is not interested in being wise? 
Whose present enjoyment and future good is insepar- 
arable from this ? But this text is a requirement to 
have the wisdom of God. And who is not interested 
especially in this? What a curse, what a poverty, 
what a misfortune is ignorance here. Man might, with 
a laudable ambition, pride himself in ignorance, in any- 
thing else, if it would but secure to him that wisdom 
which cometh down from above. But the wisdom re- 
commended here is not to be obtained by any other 
means except those prescribed in the text. The same 
wisdom that offered the prize, has presented the means 
of obtaining it. 

Apart from the Bible, there is no certain knowl- 
edge of salvation. Were a Chinaman or Hindoo, who 
had acquired some knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, to inquire of us where he might find the 
knowledge of God, we would not point him to the 
philosophy of the heathen, or the exercise of his rea- 
son, nor yet to the works of nature ; but, as a Chris- 
tian, we would direct him to the Bible as the only 
sure guide to, and trustworthy means of, heavenly 
wisdom. 

The Bible, as a historical book, is of unparallf led 
importance to us, not only because it extends its nar- 
rative of facts beyond the date of all other records, 
even to the beginning of time, but because these facts, 
themselves, are of the greatest importance to us as 
constituting the basis of all our correct and pure 
moral notions. 

Among the great facts made known to man, in that 
brief, but only sketch of the antediluvian world, are 
the existence of God, the creation of man, the intro- 
duction of sin, and the dealings of God toward the 
old world. These truths are of nameless value to us. 
They stand the great beacon of the Christian world, 
while all beyond its effulgence is darkness and gloom 7 



Searching the Scriptures. 69 

The existence of God demonstrated to our first parents, 
and from them made known to us, is certainly one of 
the most transcendantly momentous truths ever made 
known to man. and on the knowledge, as well as belief 
of which, hangs the eternal reality of all things and 
the worth of the Bible to us. 

The creation of man and of the world demonstrates 
to us the Omnipotence of the Great Jehovah, and 
opens up to man the mystery and certain truth of his 
own origin. The introduction of sin declares in fa- 
vor of God's justice — fixes the period, shows the cause 
of man's ruin, and reconciles the miseries of man to 
the holiness of God. The dealings of God toward the 
men of that age, show the deep corruption of the 
human heart — reveal the fearful displeasure of God 
against sin — heightens in its declarations of wisdom 
and mercy in his protecting the righteous, and then 
draws a glowing picture of the just destruction of the 
wicked, and in the plain language of Scripture pre- 
cedent, fixes our minds on a day of final and fearful 
retribution. 

What supremely important facts are these? Facts 
answering the most highly aspiring questions of an 
immortal enquirer — richly rewarding with their un- 
dying information the labors of the most diligent 
searcher after truth, as the precious metals of the 
earth repay the toils of the faithful miner. Inform- 
ation that distinguishes us from the heathen around 
us, and elevates us above them. But where may 
those ancient and happy truths be found? To what 
source shall we attribute their origin, and to what 
instrumentality shall we attribute their uncorrupted 
preservation to us? In vain may we search through 
the productions of heathen philosophers, sages, poets, 
and even historians. None of them claim the au- 
thority we require, nor record the facts for which we 
search. Nor will it avail us to employ our reason, and 
inquire of the various resources of nature around us. 
They tell us much, but not enough. They lead us far, 
but stop too soon. They leave us in the labyrinths 
of doubt on the greatest moral question connected 
with our existence. In the Bible alone are these 



70 West Virginia Pulpit. 

truths found. It only sheds light on the field of dark- 
ness. This only shows our destiny. Without it man 
lives without knowing from whence he came, and dy- 
ing takes a leap in the dark amidst awful suspense 
and fearful forebodings, not knowing where he is go- 
ing. 

The Bible, when viewed as a book of doctrines, 
loses none of its advantages to us. But at this point 
it increases in advantage to us, and from this consid- 
eration arises its importance, and as in its history, so 
in its doctrines, it stands alone, the oracle of the 
Church of Christ and the light of the Christian World; 
and all beyond the spread of this light is darkness 
and every evil work. Then, as the Bible rises in im- 
portance before the eye of our mind, by confiding in 
the indispensable advantage of its doctrines, so will 
the great requirement in the least, increasingly ap- 
pear. The reasons will accumulate on our hands why 
we should search the Scriptures. 

The doctrine of human depravity is inseparable 
from any enlarged degree of enjoyment. It is one of 
the leading and sovereign truths in all our systems of 
moral education. It constitutes the very foundation of 
true self knowledge. The old Grecian proverb, "Know 
thyself,' 1 was a great one indeed. Far too great to be 
fulfilled by any system of Grecian instruction. He 
only can know himself, who has been taught of God. 
For we cannot know ourselves until we know how 
depraved we are, nor will we seek aught for purity of 
heart, until we see and know our corruption. 

The doctrine of our redemption by Christ, is an es- 
sential feature within the sphere of information. This 
is not only an offset to the knowledge of sin — a 
knowledge of the cure of sin, but it is embracing with- 
in the range of our wisdom the brightest mysteries of 
heaven. It is seeing the condescending love of God 
to man. It is beholding the Savior of the World. 
God manifest in the flesh and reconciling the world 
unto himself, by transferring the punishment due the 
guilty to the innocent, without prejudice to any of the 
divine perfections. Here, the angels would take les- 
sons of man, for they desire to look into it ; but man 



Searching the Scriptures. 71 

knows it, because it is revealed to him. Here is a store 
of intellectual and moral worth and excellence, untrav- 
eled by the thoughts of the most adoring seraph 
around the throne. But the more than vulture- 
eye of man has caught this faith and he follows it to 
the whole treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

Another essential feature in our system of moral 
education is the knowledge of the doctrine of salva- 
tion by faith alone. Here is knowledge just in place. 
The knowledge which, most of all, we need. He that 
sees and feels that his heart is corrupt and views 
Christ crucified — views him as a Savior, immediately 
conceives the desire to know the means by which he 
may approach him — and. how God can be just and yet 
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Is man 
the anxious inquiry of his heart? and as soon as he 
can be assured of this great truth, he makes the strug- 
gle, feels the change and knows God and Jesus Christ, 
whom he hath sent, in the pardon of his sins. 

The great and mysterious doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, is hailed by the Christian world as 
their great beacon beyond the grave. That we mu3t 
die is a truth universally known. All men are ap- 
prised of this constantly occurring circumstance. In 
the history of the world the sentence is written on 
every generation, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou 
shalt return." 

In the language of another : "We carry forth and 
commit to the grave, the sleeping dust of those whom 
we love, and the inquiry forces itself upon the mind, 
will the much cherished flower spring forward and 
bloom to immortality. And from the bed of languish- 
ing we, ourselves, look down into the gloomy sepul- 
chre and inquire, 'If a man die shall he live again?' 
Reason, Conscience, Nature, Analogy, do indeed, sug- 
gest the truth, the strong probability of an hereafter, 
but they furnish no convictions that satisfy. No cer- 
tain conclusions where the mind pants for immortal- 
ity." But in the Bible, God declares, he will raise the 
dead. And this declaration is revealed for our com- 
fort and support. Here is a foundation, firm and 
moveless, on which to rest our hopes of the future 



72 West Virginia Pulpit. 

and all restoring event. Here, behind the gloomy de- 
tail of death and the sepulchre, is lit up the ever 
burning lamp of the glorious resurrection, and while it 
radiates against the walls of heaven itself, it throws for- 
ward corruscations ethereal, through the gloom pro- 
found, and like a beacon light, allures the Christian 
to the shore of immortality. 

Not less desirable to man is the doctrine of future 
rewards and punishment. 

There is a bell of interminable woe, and unquench- 
able fire, into which all the wicked rejectors and de- 
spisers of the Bible will be cast. 

There is also a heaven of undying joy and eternal 
life, into which the lovers of the Savior will be gath- 
ered, to inherit the reward of their virtues, world 
without end. 

Again, I ask : Where are these truths found? From 
what source do they come ? What reflects this light 
upon the world? Did some shrewd philosopher search 
the human heart and reveal its conception? What 
ancient muse tuned its lyre to the first notes of man's 
redemption ? What reasonable judge pronounced the 
truth of our salvation by faith alone ? What artist 
first gave us the portrait of immortality — the original 
of which is beyond the curtain of time ? Where is the 
historian that first revealed these facts ? 

Alas! for philosophers and poets, for darkness still 
surrounds them, and even prophets have died with- 
out the sight. Nay, verily, these truths are divine. 
They are the science of heaven — the philosophy of 
God — the revelation of Jesus Christ. A scheme laid 
in the skies, and completed on Calvary. Angels sang 
the anniversary of its birth, and the Lord of Heaven 
accompanied its first publication to man, and the 
honored and faithful emissaries of Jesus Christ 
spread it on canvass as the Holy Spirit moved the pen. 

In the Bible, then, these truths are contained, and 
in the Bible only, have we the faithful word of God. 
In the Bible is the science of salvation. The light of 
eternity shining on the darkness of time. And, what 
declares more in its favor, is that this darkness is re- 
ceding. The kingdom of light is widening, and the 



Searching the Scriptures. 73 

spell of sin is breaking, and the Macedonian cry is 
coming on every breeze, and the Gospel of the Bible 
is gaining on every vessel, It rolls in Nile grandeur 
towards its long predicted destiny, to fill the earth, 
and in proportion to its spread is the light of the 
world. 

Finally : The Bible, when viewed as a prophetical 
book, is of unrivaled importance to us. 

It is said by an ancient author, that he who is ac- 
quainted with history, lives twice. He lives in the 
past by a historical association with facts and events, 
and in the present by observation. With equal pro- 
priety, it may be said, that he who is acquainted with 
prophecy, adds another life to his existence, and lives 
three times. He lives in the future by a prophetic 
association with future events. To say which of these 
lives is the most important, would puzzle our mind. 
Nor could our judgment decide which to save in the 
sad event that one must be sacrificed. His origin and 
destiny — his beginning and end — his fall in sin — his 
redemption by Jesus Christ, and his final account at 
the last day, are kindred and vital truths, bearing 
with equal weight on the existence of every man. 

But if there can be a paramount interest in either, 
it is claimed by the future. To know the past, settles 
an otherwise ever rising curiosity, and imparts an in- 
describable comfort. To know the present, is a source 
of constantly recurring and immortal delight. But 
to know the future, opens the door of hope to man, 
and sheds more than a sunbeam of light on the bound- 
less field of prospect, where all was gloom and doubt 
before. 

Many of the periods and circumstances that most 
concern and affect the mind of man, are yet in the fu- 
ture. Some of which are, the world above, the tide of 
death, and the triumphs of the resurrection. These 
are items embraced in the knowledge of the Chris- 
tian world, though in the far distant future. The 
final conflagration of all things. The day that will 
melt the elements with fervent heat. The day that 
will strike stars from their orbits like blasted figs. 
The day when the heavens shall pass away with a 
6 



74 West Virginia Pulpit. 

great noise — and worlds crushed by worlds into the 
wildest ruin run. The day when the trump of God 
shall pour itsonmific blast throughout the Universe, 
"'and death's wide empire quake from its pale centre 
to its frigid extremities." The day that will summon 
the nations of the earth to the bar of final and in- 
scrutable justice. The day that will end the dispen- 
sation of grace and trial with man, and introduce the 
solemn destinies and rewards of eternity. When the 
righteous retributions of Almighty God will overtake 
the world, and fix forever its abode in the lake of un- 
quenchable fire, or exalt it to the mansions of the blest. 

Again : May I inquire where are these truths found? 
With whom were they originated and what is their 
authority? Did some God of Apollo first pronounce 
these truths — or has the goddess of fortune turned 
partial to the Christian world. What wise men of 
Egypt, Babylon or Greece gave these lively oracles to 
us? Did some heathen heart or soothe sayer first pen- 
etrate the awful future ? Nay, verily, these truths are 
divine. They are the prescience of God — the burden 
ot the vision of the Holy Sees. They came in the burn- 
ing message of the Spirit. In thus saith the Lord, 
and verily, verily, I say unto thee. Here, then, in 
the Bible of God is our eternity laid open — we hold it 
in our hands — we learn the past — we know the pres- 
ent — we see the future, The eyes of the world are turn- 
ing to this light and soon all men will look upon it, 
wonder and adore. 

Well may the poet exclaim . 

" Hast thou ne'er heard 
Of such a book? the author God himself, 
The subject, God and man, salvation, life 
And death — eternal life, eternal death — 
Dread words ; whose meaning has no end, no bounds- 
Most wondrous book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
Star of eternity ; the one star 
By which the bark of man could navigate 
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
Securely ; only star which rose on time, 
And, on its dark and troubled billows, still, 
As generation, drifting swiftly by 
Succeeded generation, threw a ray 
On heaven's own light, and to the hills of God, 
The eternal hills, pointed the sinners eye. 

"This book, this holy book, on every line 
Marked with the seal of high divinity, 
On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 



Searching the Scriptures. 75 

Divine, and with the eternal heraldry 
And signature of God Almighty stamped 
From first to last— this ray of celestial light, 
This lamp, from off the everlasting throne, 
Mercy took down, and in the night of Time 
Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow; 
And ever more beseeching men with tears 
And earnest sighs, to read, believe and live: 
And many to her voice gave ear, and read, 
Believed, obeyed ; and now, as the Amen, 
True, Faithful witness swore, with snowy robes 
And branchy palms surround the fount of life, 
And drink the streams of immortality 
Forever happy and forever young. ' ' 

Thank God for the Bible. Thank God for the relig- 
ion of the Bible. Take this blessed volume and 
press it to your bosom. It will be a lamp unto your 
feet and a light unto your pathway — a rock of invio- 
lable safety from the assaults of the adversary of your 
soul, and a never-failing spring from whence you 
may derive your most exalted pleasures and richest 
consolations. 

"It is said of Sir Walter Scott, that when he re- 
turned a trembling invalid from Italy, to die in his 
own native land, that the sight of home so much in- 
vigorated his spirits, that hope was entertained that 
he might recover, but finding that he must die, he 
said to his son-in-law 'Bring me the book!' What 
book? said Lockart. Can you ask what book? replied 
the man, whose works had charmed the world. 
'There is but one !' Precious Bible truths that never 
grow old — riches that never fade — crowns that are 
never tarnished — bright hopes and incorruptible im- 
mortalitv, these are the rewards of all the lovers of 
the Bible." 

II. OUR SECOND GENERAL PROPOSITION IS TO INQUIRE 
INTO THE DUTY OF SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES, AND 
THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THAT DUTY SHOULD BE PER- 
FORMED. 

1. We should search the Scriptures under the sol- 
emn conviction of their authority and importance. 
These two traits of the Bible, as we have so feebly de- 
scribed, should invariably affect your mind and oc- 
cupy your attention in your sacred reading. We 
should be careful to guard against that common and 
fatal delusion of the world, that truth is too much 



76 West Virginia Pulpit. 

strengthened or weakened in its effect upon the 
mind, by the circumstances under which we hear it. 
The same truths read in the book, and heard from the 
mouth of a speaker will have quite a different influ- 
ence. The book, which is but paper, is held in our 
hands, lies open on oar tables, but produces no excite- 
ment in our feelings. The speaker stands before us 
with his expressive countenance, his graceful 
gestures, the warmth of his zeal, and the sweet- 
ness of his voice. All these affect the mind and 
excite the feelings of the hearer. We read the 
trial, verdict, and sentence of a criminal, the 
history of a battle, or the dying address of a martyr, 
and are somewhat moved, but had we been present to 
witness these scenes, what different emotions would 
have occupied us. Had we seen the criminal and 
heard his chains ; had we heard the clank of arms and 
seen the wounded men; had we seen the martyrs 
flames as they curled around the devoted stake, and 
heard the waitings of his friends, how much more deep- 
ly would we have been affected with the truth. The 
application is natural. All the great events recorded 
in the Bible, did actually take place. We read of the 
deluge, but Noah saw it. We read of the destruction 
of the Sodomites, but Abraham saw the smoke of their 
ruins ascend like the smoke of a furnace. We read of 
God in pomp and splendor on Mount Sinai ; of the 
fearful flashes of lightning, and the terrible peals of 
thunder, the long;, lingering sound of the trumpet 
waxing louder and louder ; but Moses led the hosts of 
Israel to the base of the trembling mountain and 
talked to God face to face. We read of the birth, life, 
miracles, death and .'exaltation of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, but Peter and John heard his words, saw his 
miracles and witnessed his resurrection and ascen- 
sion. They saw and believed. We hear and believe 
and only divest these truths of circumstances, and 
they have an equal influence on them and us. We 
have an omnipresent God — his word and whether 
heard from his mouth or read in his book it is the 
same. 
2. But in searching the Scripture we should labor 



Searching the Scriptures. 77 

to bring our minds under their influence, in propor- 
tion to their importance above any other truth. 

What is naturally true of any inferior order of 
news, is equally true of the sublime intelligence of 
the Bible, the exercise of our judgment and the 
power of our will. We hear the song of the comme- 
dian and admire his note ; but the news of the mis- 
fortune of a friend fills our eyes with tears of sympa- 
thy. A friend bequeaths us a fortune, we read it and 
exult over our prospects, but news from our physician 
that we must die, fills us with profound gioom. To- 
day a note from a friend bids us to a feast, but to-mor- 
now a letter informs us of the death of a father, and 
we abandon ourselves to expressions of the most im- 
moderate grief. We turn to the Scriptures, we search 
them. Here, we hear the inspired strains of the harp 
of Israel, met by the hallelujahs of the heavenly el- 
ders, all strung and tur ed in favor of him who hath 
loved us. Here before our eyes sinks in hopeless trag- 
edy, a world of human beings. Here, in the last w r ill 
and testament of a friend, is bequeathed to us the 
incorruptible riches of the kingdom of God. Here, 
news from our great Spiritual Physician announces 
our certain and speedy departure from this to another 
world. 

Again : In the Bible, we read our invitation to 
the great supper of the Lamb, and here the death of 
our Father — our Lord Jesus Christ is detailed in the 
moving strains of the eloquence of the spirit. These 
are all written in terms, not to frighten, but to con- 
vince ; not to excite the passions, but to enlighten the 
judgment; not to conceal our deep corruption, but to 
search our hearts so as to reveal and expose our deep 
depravity. But are we convinced? Are we enlight- 
ened? Does the authority and importance of the 
Bible move us? If not, read it again. Think of its 
authority! It must be true! Think of its import- 
ance ! Your endless weal or woe depends on him you 
read to understand. Are you still unmoved? Then, 
oh. that your heart were marble, then would this 
hammer from heaven break it in pieces ! Oh, that it 
were brass, then this fire from heaven would melt it, 



78 West Virginia Pulpit. • 

and refine it from dross! Guard against infidelity at 
this point, because of entertaining doubts of the au- 
thority of what you read. Suffer none of your own 
interpretations to diminish the eternal value of these 
truths. Better believe them worse, if possible, than 
they really are, than to regard them as indifferent. 
Let all who are deceived, be deceived on the safe side. 
Beware of making baptism a saving ordinance — re- 
pentance a mere reformation of manner — the day of 
judgment, the destruction of Jerusalem, and hell, the 
grave. All these are stepping stones to infidelity, 
and take away the weight of the eternity of these 
truths from us. 

Finally : I would have you guard against prejudice. 
Read with a sober, reflective state of mind. Throw 
away your preconceived notions. Forget the creed of 
your fathers. Have no preference for that which is 
most pleasing to flesh and blood. Like the miner 
searching for the precious metals of the earth, follow 
the pure vein of truth, for this is your interest. 
There is no way to shun these truths. Their import- 
ance and authority still press upon you. They will 
drive you to God, or lead you to embrace error and 
foliy. Are you yet unmoved? Then remember that 
this is one of the strongest reasons why we should 
search the Scriptures. The harder your heart, the 
more you are in need of truth. The less taste you 
have, the more you should labor to acquire a taste. 
Here, and here only, is the medicine for your disease. 
Where else in the wide expanse of creeds will you 
find a remedy? Ever rally to this point, for a bless- 
ing is here. And remember that awful must be the 
condition of him who can adopt the following lan- 
guage as his experience : 

" But I can read each moving line, 
And nothing moves this heart of mine." 

As my last direction then, I recommend that you 
bring to mind the sentiment embraced in the follow- 
ing stanza : 

" But power divine can do the deed, 
And that blest power much I need, 
Thy spirit can from dross refine 
And melt and change this heart of mine." 



Searching the Scriptures. 79 

Then go to some secret place, seek some retired spot, 
take your Bible with you, kneel down, and implore 
on your heart, and on the truths you read, the light 
and power of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to take away 
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh — a 
heart to understand his word. Then open the Bible 
and read. Try and understand every word you read 
— the construction of every sentence — the connection 
of every paragraph. Then close your Bible and lift 
your eyes to heaven and implore the help of the Holy 
Spirit. Then read again, and pray again. And if 
you remain unmoved, we recommend no more — except 
to repeat the plan. Darkness may increase around 
you. Temptation may engulf you in doubt, but 
summon all your resolution. Gather strength at 
every defeat. Turn every discouragement into a rea- 
son to renew your efforts. Go again to your seques- 
tered place. Kneel again. Pray again. Here only 
is life. Anywhere else is death. On this point turns 
your final destiny. If you would shun hell, and if 
you would gain heaven, ever pursue this course, ever 
read and ever pray. 

" Oh, may these heavenly pages be, 
My ever dear delight ! 
And still new beauties may I see 
And still increasing light." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Fkanklin Ball, D.D., son of Dabney and Penelope Ball, 
was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, October 4th, 1822. His 
parents being limited in means, greatly interfered with the 
early education of their children. The boys labored upon the 
farm in summer, and attended school during winter. When 
Franklin was about nineteen years of age, he attended two terms 
at an academy in Washington, D. C, — the sainted Alfred Cook- 
man was also a pupil, and was a personal friend of the subject 
of this sketch. 

When Dr. Ball was twenty, he borrowed a small sum of money 
— his father went his security — and attended two terms at an 
academy in New Baltimore, Farquier county, Virginia. His 
funds gave out, and he was too conscientious to contract further 
indebtedness, and therefore returned to his home in Fairfax. 
A few days thereafter, an advertisement appeared in a local 
paper, announcing that a teacher was wanted to take charge of a 
country school. The day was fixed for all applicants to be ex- 
amined, as to qualifications for teaching. Bro. Ball was one of 
three young men who applied for the place, and after undergo- 
ing the necessary examination, the school was given to him. 
Here he spent two years in teaching, and was quite successful. 

In 1847, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Catharine 
Delaney, of Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia — a most 
happy event for him, as Mrs. Ball is, in every respect, a superior 
woman. She has always been a great help to her husband in 
his responsible and laborious duties as an itinerant minister. 
She is a leader in those branches pertaining to woman's work in 
the Church; is fluent in speech ; is eloquent in exhortation and 
prayer, and is social, and generous to a fault. 

Shortly after his marriage, Dr. Ball purchased a farm, and set- 
tled down, to what he then thought, was to be his life w T ork, as 
he at that time, had a taste for the farm and field. He, natur- 
ally industrious, labored hard, but failed to accumulate property 
as he desired, and expected. In 1854, his eldest brother, John, 
who was in the ministry in Pennsylvania, died, and bequeathed 
his " saddlebags " to his brother Franklin (who had been con- 
verted at the age of fourteen, and was a consistent member of 
the Church), w T ith the request that he would fill the place that 
he had left in the ministerial ranks. "This," says Dr. Ball, 
" settled the matter, and I yielded to the conviction w r hich I had 
quietly, but stubbornly resisted for twelve years. In March, 



Personal Sketch. 81 

1856, my application went np to the Baltimore Conference, but 
there was no room, and so I turned back with the hope that my 
conscience would allow me to remain on my farm. But my call 
to the ministry was so strong, deep and abiding that I could not 
rest. I lost my appetite, and could not sleep. Everything 
about me was out of joint. I had no enjoyment of farm, home, 
or life. I was miserable. I had, meanwhile, been elected Jus- 
tice of the Peace, and my friends proposed to introduce me to 
political life. But I said in my heart, ' preach I must, and preach 
I will, if I have to go round the world on foot to find an open 
door.' In June of that year, altogether unlooked for to me, my 
way was opened into the West Virginia Conference. To Rich- 
mond I had been sent to hold an interview with Governor Wise, 
and to present to him a Bill of Exceptions in the case of a trial 
for murder. From Richmond I hastened to Buckhannon, Upshur 
county, the seat of the conference, and I was admitted on trial 
and appointed to Grantsville, Allegheny county, Md." 

Thus Bro. Ball was ushered into the ministry. I have often 
talked with him on the subject, and he always expressed deep 
regrets that he had not yielded to the "call" earlier in life, and 
given to the Master many more years of earnest labor. As it 
is, however, his ministerial career lias been, in every respect, a 
successful one ; but he always seemed to feel that he begun 
later than he should have done. Well, this may be true, still I 
cannot but feel that he pursued the proper course. If more of 
our preachers would "tarry longer at Jerusalem," and learn 
more of business, more of men, and more of the ways of the 
world, it would be far better for them as individuals, and certainly 
better for the Church, as well. 

On his first circuit, Bro. Ball labored two years successfully. 
In 1858-9, he spent two successful years on Brandonville circuit ; 
1860-1, he traveled Morgantown circuit, and 1862 he spent on 
Kingwood circuit. There were nineteen preaching places on this 
circuit, but he filled each of them every fourth week, until the 
latter part of the year, when he was assisted by Rev. S. W. 
Davis. In 1863-1-5, he was stationed at Xorth Street Church, 
Wheeling. This was a very difficult, yet successful term. 
While at North Street, he, with other prominent citizens — in- 
cluding most all the members of the Legislature, which was 
then in session — were volunteers to apprehend the noted Con- 
federate raider, John Morgan, who, with an immense body of 
cavalrymen, was passing up the Ohio side of the river. During 
his pastorate at this station, he spent two months at Louisville, 
Kentuckey, in the work of the Christian Commission. In 1866- 
7-8, Dr. Ball was stationed at Zane street Church, Wheeling. 
His term was a very successful one — the membership being in- 
creased, thoroughly organized, and a large new edifice was 
erected. His 'next station was at Triadelphia, six miles from 
Wheeling. This was in 1869-70-71. The church was greatly 
revived, and a large brick edifice was built. He spent the year 



82 Rev. Franklin Ball, D.D. 

1872 in Charleston, where he was wonderfully successful. He 
was instrumental in securing the erection of one of the finest 
church huildings in the State, and took into the Church upwards 
of fifty members. In 1873-4-5-6, he was Presiding Elder of the 
Wheeling District. It was during the latter year of his term on 
the Wheeling District, that Mount Union College conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. 

Dr. Ball was transferred to the Central New York Conference 
and was stationed at Phoenix, where he remained two years. 
His next station was at Marcellus, where he staid the full term 
of three years. He is at present, stationed in Elmira ; and we 
are glad to know, is doing efficient work for the Great Head of 
the Church. 

Dr. Ball is a man of unusual firmness of character, and is 
conscientious in all that he does. He would suffer his right arm 
to be cut off rather than encroach upon his conscience. Would 
that the States were filled with such men. He is a good preacher, 
and the world is better because he has lived in it. 



SERMON VI. 

BY 

REV. FRANKLIN BALL, D.D. 



Theme :— EVERLASTING HABITATIONS. 



Text: — " For we know that if our earthly house of this taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens./ — II. Cor. v : 1. 

In the Scriptures, the human body is compared to 
a house, a temple. For example, " Know ye not that 
ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God 
dwelleth in you ? if any man defile the temple of God, 
him shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is holy, 
which temple ye are."* And when Jesus said to the 
Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up. * * * He spake of the temple of 
his body." 

In man's mental and moral faculties lie the power; 
of volition, constituting him a free moral agent 
hence he may, by a virtuous and holy life, honor the 
body and live, or he may, by an impure, sinful life, 
dishonor it and die ; " For he that soweth to his flesh, 
shall of the flesh reap corruption ; bathe that soweth 
to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlast- 

ing."t 

The body is an " earthly house." It is earthly in 
composition. " It seems at first thought somewhat 
strange that the head of the human family should have 

*L Corinthians iii : 16-17. fGaHatians vi : 6, 8. 



84 West Virginia Pulpit. 

received his distinctive name from the affinity whicl 
he had, in the lower part of his nature, to the dus 
of the earth — that he should have been called Adam 
as being taken in his bodily part from adamah, th< 
ground ; the more especially as the name was not as 
sumed by man himself, but imposed by God, and im 
posed in immediate connection with man's destina 
tion to bear the image of God." And God said, " Le 
us make man (Adam) in our image, after our like 
ness." Man got his name Adam from the earth, ao 
amah, not because of its being his characteristic dig 
nity that God made him after his image, but becaus 
of this, that God made after his image one, who ha< 
been taken from the earth. The likeness of Goc 
man had in common with the angels, but that as th 
possessor of this likeness, he should be Adam — this i 
what brought him into union with two worlds — th 
world of spirit and the world of matter — renderin 
him the center and the bond of all that had bee: 
made, the fitting topstone of the whole work of crc 
ation, and the motive principle of the world's historj 

It is precisely his having the image of God in a 
earthen vessel, that while made somewhat lower tha 
the angels, he occupies a higher position than the 
in respect to the affairs of this world."* 

The human body is also earthly, by reason of tha 
upon which it subsists — air, water and food, both an 
mal and vegetable. 

The phraseology of the text is peculiar : " Ou 
earthly house of this tabernacle." Evidently th 
Apostle institutes a comparison between the huma 
body and the Jewish tabernacle. The tabernacle ws 
of very flexible and light material. It was portabl 
and was moved from place to place in the wildernes 
for temporary services. It was soon pitched and usee 
then it was as soon taken down and carried forwar 
for similar use elsewhere, till it was superseded b 
the greater glory of the temple, " Whither the tribe 
went up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimon 
of Israel." And how fragile are we. How sensitiv 
; : ; 

*McClintock and Strong, vol. 1. Also see Psalms viii : 5, and Heb. ii : 6| 



Everlasting Habitations 85 

_ pain. How constantly exposed to danger and in- 
iry. How subject to disease, and how surely des- 
ined to dissolution. The Psalmist beautifully de- 
oribes the frailty of our human nature : " Thou turn- 
fit man to destruction ; and sayest return, ye chil- 
ren of man. For a thousand years in thy sight are 
ut as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in 
he night. Thou earnest them away as with a flood ; 
hey are as asleep ; in the morning they are like grass, 
fhich groweth up ; in the morning it flourisheth, 
nd groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and 
rithereth." Hence the prayer : " Lord, make me to 
mow mine end, and the measure of my days, what it 
s; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou 
last made my days as a handbreadth ; and mine age 
s as nothing before thee ; verily every man at his best 
tate is altogether vanity." 

When one determines to build a house, the idea of 
t tenant or occupant enters into the plan, and the 
)uild,ing is designed with reference to the conven- 
ence and comfort of the occupant. Thus has our 
Creator made our bodies with infinite care for the 
;enant— the immortal part. A house, while occu- 
}ied bv a good tenant, is attractive and inviting. It 
affords" shelter from the storm and protection from 
ieat and cold and danger. Its inmates, too. and asso- 
ciations make it the most delightful of all earthly 
ptreats. This is especially true, if the religion of 
Tesus Christ holds sway in the household. Its groves 
ind lawns, its flowers and birds, its fragrant breath 
and interior comforts make it the most desirable place 
m earth. Every breach is repaired. The founda- 
tions are preserved ; the walls are carefully guarded 
against decay; broken panes are removed and new 
ones supplied, and the whole structure is kept in a 
state of neatness and preservation. But, let the ten- 
ant leave the house unoccupied, how changed the 
view. Soon, dead branches hang upon the trees; the 
beautiful lawn is overgrown with weeds and thistles; 
the {choicest flowers which filled the air with 
their sweet perfume, now perish for the want of at- 
tention. The foundations of the house give way, the 



86 West Virginia Pulpit. 

walls curve and crumble, the roof is broken, and no 
longer affords any shelter from the storm as the 
wild winds^of heaven sigh ^mournfully through the 
appertuures, while gloom and desolateness settle 
down upon the scene. Night birds gather upon its 
walls, reptiles crawl while serpants hiss and drag 
their loathsome and dreaded forms around its ruins; 
and rather than enter in and dwell there, we turn 
away from the desolation with shrinking and dread. 

The human body is an "earthly house ;" the soul is 
the tenant. While the body is inhabited, clothed and 
kept in repair, it is beautiful and attractive. The 
step is elastic, the cheek blooms with the beauty of 
health, the eye flashes with the light of life, and the 
countenance glows with the honest love that thrills 
the heart. Pleasant and kind words dwell upon the 
tongue, while deeds of kindness win our love. But 
let the soul be summoned hence — at once the step 
falters, the cheek grows pale, the eye is dull and 
sunken, while the countenance grows languid and 
haggard. The tongue refuses to repeat the name of the 
most trusted friend. The i extremities grow cold and 
the dews of death settle upon the brow. Life's vital 
current is stagnant, the pulse fails to measure the 
passing moments; the heart throbs no longer; the 
tenant is gone ; the earthly house is fallen ; the body 
is in the grave, and the mourners go about the streets. 
Putrifaction sets in. Loathsome creatures take pos- 
session of the body, and we shrink from contact with 
the object which we have so much admired and loved. 

And this separation of the soul and body seems to 
be a necessity ; not simply because it has been so or- 
dained of God, but in the very nature of the case it 
is a necessity. The soul has corns forth from God,, 
and is in a state of exile — lodging awhile as a ban- 
ished prisoner in the earthly house, with the bolts 
and bars of immortality hedging it about. Thus im- 
prisoned, it cannot get back to God, for "flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor corrup- 
tion cannot inherit incorruption." This ballast must 
be thrown off so that the soul may rise. These earth- 
works must"be taken apart and thrown down. The 



Everlasting Habitations. 87 

prison door must be opened by the touch of death. 
Then the fetters fall off, and the soul is free to spread 
her wings and mount and soar away to its native 
heaven. 

While there is much about death in the breaking 
up of all the associations of life and the pangs of 
dissolution, yet to the good, death has no terror. The 
fear of death is removed, its sting has been extracted, 
the strength of the law has been exhausted upon him 
who has conquered death, and all beyond the grave 
is beautiful and inviting, because we have the victo- 
ry through our Lord Jesus Christ. The gloom of the 
tomb has disappeared, like the mists of the morning 
before the rising of the sun of righteousness. 

"The graves of all his saints He'll bless 
And soften every bed." 

We observe that in our text the future safety and 
happiness of the good are clearly asserted. They 
have a house — eternal — in the heavens. You and I 
have looked with pleasing awe upon the magnificent 
Capitol of the United States, with its massive dome 
lifting itself in its grand proportions hundreds of feet 
towards the sky. Men delight to look upon princely 
palaces with costly surroundings, and with all the 
appointments of royalty. We fancy the crowded me- 
tropolis, whose spires pierce the clouds and direct the 
eyes of the thronging multitudes heavenward. We 
remember the Centennial buildings and grounds of 
1876, in Philadelphia, with their thousands of flags 
and banners fluttering and trembling in the winds. 
Also the emblems and productions of other nations. 
The beautiful lawns, the well-shaded walks, the cool 
and inviting retreats, the little lakes, the jet- 
ting fountains, the singing of birds, and the hun- 
dreds of thousands of people who thronged the 
enchanted place, day after day, for months, while the 
strains of sacred and martial music with National 
airs fell upon the ear from morning until evening — 
making up a scene of beauty and joy, which was both 
the wonder and admiration of the world. But what 
are all these, and more, compared with that city whose 
builder and maker is God ? Of which Jesus has said, 



88 West Virginia Pulpit. 

"In my Father's House there are many mansions." 
"A building of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." That vast metropolis of the 
universe. The home of angels, and the spirits of the 
just made perfect. Where Jesus presides and reigns. 
You remember it has been measured by an angel 
with a golden reed, in John's presence. The founda- 
tions of its walls are garnished with all manner of 
precious stones. Its walls are great and high. It 
has twelve gates of pearl. The names of the twelve 
Apostles are written in heaven's dialect upon its 
foundations. The city lieth four square, and the 
length is as great as the breadth. The length, and 
the breadth, and the height are equal. Story upon 
story it towers, as clear as transparent glass. There 
is no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the Temple of it. It has no need 
of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the 
glory of God lightens it, and the j^amb is the light there- 
of. There, the tabernacle of God is with men. There, 
God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. There, 
there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; 
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former 
things are passed away. There, are the hundred and 
forty-four thousand, having their Father's name writ- 
ten in their foreheads. There, the voice of praise is 
as the sound of many waters, and as the voice of 
great thunder; while the celestial choristers sweep 
their harp strings and sing the new song before the 
throne. There, are those who are redeemed from the 
earth, and in whose mouth there was found no guile, 
for they stand without fault before the throne of God. 
They compose a great company — far beyond human 
computation — of all nations, kindred, peoples and 
tongues. They are clothed with white robes, and they 
have palms in their hands. They cry with a loud 
voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. While they 
sing all the angels round about fall before the throne 
on their faces and worship God, saying, "Amen ! 
blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and honor, and 
power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever." 



Everlasting Habitations. 89 

These singers to whom the angels respond, u are they 
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, 
and serve him day and night in his temple ; and he 
that siteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. 
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; 
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 
For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne 
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun- 
tains of water, and God shall wipe away tears from 
their eyes." 0, what a home for the soul ! What 
a building of God ! What a city ! But only pure 
and holy ones occupy the house of many mansions — 
eternal in the heavens. And on our part, the most 
thorough preparation must be made, so that we may 
be '• meet to be partakers of an inheritance among the 
saints in light." Hence it is written, "Blessed are the 
pure in heart for they shall see God." Who would not 
practice any amount of self-denial, bear any cross, or 
submit to any reproach, in order to secure a home in 
these everlasting habitations? For one, I cannot af- 
ford to miss Heaven. Let it cost what it may, by 
the grace of God, Heaven must and shall be my 
home. Nor can you afford to run any risk in that 
direction. You "and I have too many bright flowers 
blooming "over there," in the garden of the Lord, to 
be indifferent about the future home of the soul — 
dear loved ones up yonder, robed and crowned and 
saved, who bend down over the shining battlements 
of the city of our God, beckoning us away from these 
rude and thorny scenes, and waiting, almost impa- 
tiently, till we are ready, and until God shall have 
accomplished his purposes with us. Then the order 
shall be given, and we shall strike our tents and 
"come to join Zion with songs and everlasting joy 
upon our heads." 

It is the privilege of all Christians to have the as- 
surance contained in the text : " For we know." etc. 
What a blessed privilege thus to live. Oh, what joy- 
ous liberty and freedom from fear may be ours! Truly 
it is blessed to be able to say, " For me to live is Christ, 



90 West Virginia Pulpit. 

and to die is gain." Who can feel safe short of this 
knowledge? This is a life of peril. It is a scene of 
constant strife and watching. The allurements of the 
world are around us. We have to meet the shrewd- 
ness and the " well-circumstanced " temptations of 
Satan so long as we remain in the flesh. The infirm- 
ities of our fallen nature are upon us. The pains of dis- 
ease lay hold of us. We have to stand by the graves 
of our withered and lost hopes. The cold and chil- 
ing storms of adversity and disappointment beat upon 
us. Separation by death comes. Family ties are rudely 
severed. Children and parents and companions are 
torn asunder by the destroyer. Graveyards and tomb- 
stones are in every neighborhood. Habiliaments of 
mourning meet us on every hand. Hearts — loving 
hearts — are smitten and in nearly every home on earth 
there is a vacant chair. : How rapidly and suddenly 
do these earthly houses fall, and how we tremble as 
we look over the wrecks around us, and the query 
arises, who shall repair this desolation and ruin? 

In answering this all important inquiry, we must 
turn to him, who said to the sorrowing ones, " I am the 
resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live." Listen, ye 
stricken ones, to the comforter. "Let not your hearts 
be troubled; * * * * * * in my Father's 
house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would 
not have told you. And if I go to prepare a place for 
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; 
that where I am, there ye may be also;" and u For if we 
believe that if Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." 

However, dark and threatening the storm that 
comes down upon our paths ; faith discerns the silver 
lining, indicating the light and the glory beyond. For 
though sin surrounds and temptations assail us ; in- 
firmities and disease may fall to our lot, and passing 
away be written upon everything coming within the 
range of our vision, while like autumn we be thrown 
over the face of the earth ; yet the finger of God comes 
out and inscribes in characters of living light upon 
the threatening skies, as they grow brighter before the 



Everlasting Habitations. 91 

vision of our faith, t% . For we know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, an house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens." 

I have read of the so-called Island of Gibralter, in 
Lake Erie, near Put-in-Bay, with its stone castle, its 
turrets and towers, erected by a banker, in the days 
of his opulence. To those around his Gibralter, he 
dispensed noble hospitalities; he sustained a little 
church nigh at hand; splendid saloons and airy 
chambers were open to summer uses and enjoyments, for 
Christian ministers. As many as an hundred cler- 
gymen have been seen atone time, recruiting in the 
beautiful shade, the guests of the great financier. 
But the breath of misfortune has blasted the scene, 
and now, the castle has been bolted, the airy halls 
closed, the once well-trimmed, sod is grown wild, the 
shell paved walks are washed and rugged; and the 
gloom of neglect and solitude hang like a pall over 
this once brilliant home of wealth, of power and of 
worldly ambition. Thus, often, come and go, earthly 
possessions with their greatness, their grandeur and 
their beauty. But, Christian friends, though you and 
I may have no earthly Island Gibralter, adorned by 
all of the appointments of wealth, our Bible tells of 
a place where moth and rust corrupt not, nor do 
thieves break through. There we lay up our treas- 
ure, and there our hearts are also. Its builder and 
maker is God. His resources are infinite. The hand 
of power shall never bar its gates against the heirs of 
the kingdom. The golden streets are far beyond the 
floods of time, nor shall the pall of gloom and decay 
ever settle upon that scene. But with our sainted 
Dr, William Hunter we may sing : 

'• My heavenly home is bright and fair ; 
Nor pain nor death can enter there ; 
Its glittering- towers the snn outshine : 
That heavenly mansion shall be mine. 
Let others seek a home below. 
Which flames devonr, or waves o'erflow ; 
Be mine the happier lot to own. 
A heavenly mansion near the throne. 
Then fail the earth, let stars decline, 
And sun and moon refuse to shine, 
All nature sink and cease to be, 
That heavenly mansion stands for me." 



92 West Virginia Pulpit. 

This house belongs to God ; the text so states. " It 
is a building of God ;" and Jesus said, " In my Father's 
house are many mansions.' 7 And yet, " we have it." 
What a happy thought, just as our children have 
the houses that belong to us. Our children have 
rights and privileges at home in the enjoyment of 
which we protect them. We are more careful to pro- 
vide a home and an estate for the children than for 
ourselves. And it is a great joy to a parent to know 
that a child loves its home. How pleasing it is to our 
heavenly father to know that we, as his children, 
love the place he has prepared for us ; and we are 
joyfully hastening and singing on towards the home 
of the soul. 

And me thinks we'll not be strangers in our father's 
house ; but we shall know each other there. It seems 
to me, that it would rob heaven of almost half its 
glory, if I should not recognize there, in some way, 
those who have been my nearest and dearest friends 
on earth. What family sociability there will be when 
we all get home from our varied wanderings, and 
scenes of conflict and conquest. How shall we de- 
light to rehearse, in heaven's dialect, the incidents of 
the journey, as we traveled home — its sorrows and its 
joys, and draw the contrast. u As we have heard, so 
do we now see, in the city of our God." We have 
read and sang of Jesus ; but now we behold the king 
in his beauty. We used to hear that parted friends 
should meet again, who have loved ; and here we all 
are, father and mother, brother and sister, parents and 
children. 

" And then for joy we'll fold our wings, 
And lond the lovely sonnet sing— 
We're safe at home." 

Lastly : Believers know whither Christ has gone, 
and the way we know. We well understand our rela- 
tions to our heavenly father. " Our conversation is 
in Heaven." " And we walk in the light as God is in 
the light." " Enoch was translated, that he should 
not see death ; and was not found, because God had 
translated him ; for, before his translation, he had 
this testimony, that he pleased God." David cried 



Everlasting Habitations. 93 

out, u Oh, that I had wings like a dove ! for then 
would I fly away and be at rest." Job, as the earthly 
house of his tabernacle was tottering to its fall, said, 
with unfaltering faith, "I know that my Redeemer 
livetb." And just as Paul went forth from prison to 
death, he wrote to Timothy : " I have fought a good 
fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the 
faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 
shall give me in that day." So has it been with many 
of our personal friends, whom we well remember. In 
life and in death the Holy Ghost bears his witness 
with our hearts, that we are born of God. and heaven 
is our home. 

I remember, as my now sainted father was dying, 
and the family were gathered about the bed of death, 
he rallied ; and amid the raptures of the hour, he 
said : " I seem to be traveling in a land unearthly in 
appearance, stretching out in an illimitable prospect 
before my vision. I walk amid fields of greenest ver- 
dure ; flowing rivers and running brooks; shaded 
groves and blooming flowers ; the companions of other 
years accompany me, and the countenances of depart- 
ed friends cheer me." Here the pilgrimage of life 
reached its last step, the valley of the shadow of 
death was traversed to its most distant verge ; when 
the light of an eternal day broke in upon his soul, 
and he whispered, " I am almost there," and 
entered into rest. My mother and six children 
of the seven have joined him in the land of rest. To- 
gether they rest in the family burying ground, at 
Ball's Cross Roads, near Arlington, Virginia. Our 
two older children lie buried upon the Alleghany 
mountains, in Western Maryland, within the bounds 
of my first circuit, West Virginia Conference. A few 
days ago, our little grandson, Franklin, a beautiful 
child, suddenly°died, and now u sleeps in the valley," 
in Marcellus, New York. Their earthly houses have 
fallen, the tabernacles have sunk in ruinous decay; 
prostrate they lie in the earth. The citadel has been 
stormed by disease, and the strong-hold has been car- 
ried. The winding-sheet and shroud are the flags of 



94 West Virginia Pulpit. 

truce displayed, showing that they have surrendered 
to the last enemy ; and the badges of mourning on 
every hand, are the black banners waving in token of 
the cruel triumph, over the prostrate forms of those 
whom we have so tenderly loved. 

Now, all this is the result of sin. God did not or- 
dain all this mischief and ruin. It is the work of 
Satan. An enemy hath done this. But, blessed be 
God, Jesus Christ has come to destroy the works of 
the devil, and repair the wreck that has come upon 
us. He will bring together our scattered dust ; and 
by his resurrection, forever will recover us from the 
grasp of the destroyer. He will call us forth from 
our dusty beds ; and put upon us the robes of his own 
immortality. For, although we are sown in corrup- 
tion, we shall be raised in incorruption ; sown in dis- 
honor, but raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised 
in power; sown a natural body, but raised a spir- 
itual body. "And as we have borne the image of 
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heav- 
enly." And we shall be satisfied when we awake 
with his likeness. We look out over the earth as one 
vast burying ground — a valley of dry bones; but Jesus, 
the universal deliverer, shall open the gates of death 
and release the captives. The Prophet Hosea foresaw 
the oncoming gospel of resurrection power, and 
through him God speaks : " I will ransom them from 
the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death ; 
death, I will be thy plague; grave, I will be thy 
destruction." And when the trumpet's blast shall 
roll through earth and sky, we shall start into a new 
life, while the parting heavens disclose the descending 
Son of God, coming to gather up his jewels ; then, in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the change 
shall be wrought and the work shall be done ; " so 
when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put # on immortality, 
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is 
written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is 
thy victory? * * * Thanks be unto 



Everlasting Habitations. 95 

God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

"And when Jesus doth appear, 

Soul and body 
Shall his glorious image bear," 

"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our 
God; we have waited for him, we will be glad and re- 
joice in his salvation." 

11 For we know that if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, 
an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 

Now, should an unconverted man read the forego- 
ing discourse, he will not find a word of comfort, nor 
a ray of hope in it for him, while out of Christ. 
Why ? Simply because his failure to receive Christ, 
keeps him beyond the range of these " exceeding 
great and precious promises;" and while he main- 
tains his present attitude, there is naught before him, 
" But a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and 
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." 

I once stood by the bedside of a man who knew his 
end was nigh. He was the head of a family — intel- 
ligent, and a superior business man. He had been 
the subject of numerous, earnest efforts and prayers, 
but he was a man of intemperate, bad habits. He 
knew he was soon to die and meet his God. By his 
request I sang " The Precious name." He then asked 
me to read the 23d Psalm. He remained quiet and 
attentive till I read, " yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," etc, 
" Stop," said he, u I can't say that. 0, if I could say 
that, it would be worth worlds to me ! Here I am 
about to die, and I'm not ready. Jesus is not mine. 
No one can go with me. I'm so lonely and nothing 
but darkness and ruin before me. 0, if I could only 
say, I fear no evil ; but I can't. What shall I do? 
What shall I do ? Won't you pray for me ?" I again 
prayed for him, and bade him farewell. I never 
again saw him. Soon after this he died as he had 
lived; at least so far as human judgment could decide. 
But, " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 



96 West Virginia Pulpit. 

righteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto 
the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to 
our God, for he will abundantly pardon ?" Then he 
will stand within range of the promises, and in the 
light of God — in companionship with Jesus he may 
pass through the valley of the shadow of death, to 
fairer worlds on high, and enter the house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Eev. Ashfoed Hall was born in Preston county, West Vir- 
ginia, December 22, 1826. His early life was spent on a farm in 
his native county. He had limited educational advantages, but 
improved all he had in such a way as to get a pretty thorough 
knowledge of the English language, and such rudimentary math- 
ematics as were then taught by the district pedagogue. He at- 
tended several terms at the Northwestern Virginia Academy, 
where he studied the higher branches, and thus acquired a fair 
education. 

Brother Hall was blessed with pious parents, who gave him 
an early religious training. Their house was the home of the 
itinerant ministers, who pioneered the paths of gospel civiliza- 
tion, amid the hills and valleys of this western portion of the 
mother State — Virginia. He was converted at the age of fifteen. 
Prior to entering the ministry, he served some two years or 
more as class leader. June 16, 1849, Brother Hall was licensed 
to preach, and was recommended for the traveling connection 
by the Quarterly Conference of Kingwood circuit. The follow- 
ing October, at the session of the West Virginia Conference, at 
Clarksburg, he was admitted to the ranks of the regular minis- 
try; and but few of his other brother clergymen can say as 
much, he has answered "present" at every roll call of the Con- 
ference since that time. 

Brother Hall is a man of method in all that he does. He is 
among the most faithful of men. He can always be depended 
upon. He never shirked responsibilities of any kind. He is as reg- 
ular as a clockworks. His sermons are model productions of pure 
English. He never enters the pulpit without thorough prepa- 
ration. His discourses, therefore, are even, regular — always 
good. He was never robust, but always managed to do a vast 
amount of hard study and work. He has served the Church as 
circuit rider, stationed preacher and Presiding Elder, always 
faithfully and well. During his ministry in the West Virginia 
Conference, he received over two thousand persons into the 
Church on probation. Many sheaves, as the result of his labor, 
will ultimately be gathered on the highlands of Heaven. He 
was recently transferred to the Central Ohio Conference, and 
stationed at Kawson, where, under God, we trust he will yet 



98 Rev. Ashford Hall. 

perform a faithful service for the Master, for many years to 
come. 

From a recent letter received from Brother Hall, I extract a 
paragraph. He says: "My wish is to spend my remaining years, 
or days, in the Master's work ; but with more complete consecra- 
tion and greater success. Humbly trusting in the infinite merits 
of Jesus, I hope, when the end shall come, to pass from the 
fatigueing toils below, to the refreshing and delightful scenes 
above. — I hope to live and work forever. 



SERMON VII. 



BY 



REV. ASHFORD HALL. 



Theme:— OUR MISSION. 

Text : — " As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I 
sent them into the world." — John xvii : 18. 

These words form a part of the touching address of 
the Son of God to the Father, just before his betrayal 
and crucifixion. Though the scenes of the Garden 
and Calvary were before him, he did not forget his 
followers. In the fullness of his sympathy, he prayed 
for them : not that they should be taken out of the 
world, but that they might be kept from evil. Not- 
withstanding he foresaw and foretold what they would 
be called to do and endure, he sent them into a world 
^of toil and trial. The apostles are spoken of. They 
were divinely called, and commissioned to perform a 
specified work — to preach the Gospel. But not them 
exclusively. They could not, in person, fulfill the 
command, u Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." And the accompanying 
promise, " Lo, 1 am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world,' 1 shows that others were included. 
These were representative men. They stood at the 
head of a long line of laborers, that was to reach 
" unto the end of the world." They were to commence 
a work that was to be carried on till every fallen 
child of Adam should hear the joyful message of salva- 



100 West Virginia Pulpit 1 . 

tion. Every true minister receives a similar commis- 
sion, and falls into the regular succession. 

But not ministers alone are sent. Every man has 
his mission. No one's life is an accident. God is the 
Creator; he has made nothing in vain; design runs 
through all his works — through senseless matter in 
its varied forms and arrangements — through all the 
grades of sentient existence, from the insect to the 
Archangel. And is man an exception ? Man, whom 
God has more richly endowed than all beside ; who 
can think, reason, will, review the past and contem- 
plate the future. Can we suppose such a wonderful 
being was formed just to fill up an empty space, or to 
float aimlessly through the Universe? He who thinks 
so, is shamed by every humming insect, rebuked by 
the clods he treads beneath his feet. The wisdom of 
God precludes the idea of aimless existence. His good- 
ness proclaims a benevolent purpose. 

" God lias his plan for every man." 

We may safely assume, that he who gave us exist- 
ence, who gave us such exalted rank in the scale of 
intelligent beings — and bestowed upon us such won- 
derful powers, designed us for a noble destiny : that he 
has a mission for us to fulfill, corresponding to the 
powers bestowed ; a work for us to do commensurate 
with our capacities, and the opportunities and facili- 
ties afforded. 

What is the object of our existence ? What end had 
the creator in view when he gave us being, and sent 
us into the world? To ascertain the divine purposes, 
should be our first business. On the threshold of life, 
before forming plans of our own, we should ask in 
humble submission, " Lord, what wilt thou have me 
to do?" This is a question of vital importance — a 
point on which character and destiny are made to 
turn. 

The text may throw some light on this question — 
may help us to a solution of the problem of life. 
These words embrace not only the fact that we are 
sent, but that we are sent on a special mission. A 
mission bearing some resemblance to that on which 



Our. Mission. 101 

Christ himself was sent. "As thou hast sent me into 
the world, even so have I sent them." 

The sphere of labor is the same. We are sent to 
the same world to which Christ was sent. 

There is a similarity in the object of our mission. 
The end to be accomplished by our existence is, in one 
aspect, the same as that which brought the Lord of 
Life and Glory to our world. Our work differs from 
his in many respects. It is not the same in nature. 
It falls infinitely short in measure and value. But in 
its ultimate aims and issues, it is substantially the 
same. 

The primary object was the glory of God, and sub- 
servient to this, the salvation of men. Jesus was 
sent to repair the ruin which sin had wrought He 
came " to seek and to save that which was lost." No 
other work brings so great glory to God, as that which 
is done for man's salvation. Look abroad on the uni- 
verse. Some perfection of the Creator is imprinted 
on every creature. " The heavens declare the glory 
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. 1 ' 

" These mighty orbs proclaim his power, 
Their motions speak his skill." 

But in the work of man's salvation, is manifested 
all the divine attributes. 

" Here the whole Deity is known, 
Nor dares a creature guess, 
Which of the glories brighter shone, 
The justice or the grace." 

When our Lord had fulfilled his mission, on the 
eve of his departure from the world, he said, in refer- 
ence to all he had done for man's deliverance, " I have 
glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work thou 
gavest me to do." 

Such was the object of our creation : Each one is 
sent into the world with the explicit injunction, 
" Thou shalt glorify me." And when by sin we for- 
feited the life he gave us, he duplicated the obliga- 
tion, by giving his Son for our ransom. " Ye are not 
your own, for ye are bought with a price ; therefore 
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which 
are God's." This is the chief end of our existence. 



102 West Virginia Pulpit. 

In no other way can we contribute to that end so 
effectually as in efforts to save men from sin. " Let 
your light so shine before men, that they may see 
your good works, and glorify your father, which is in 
heaven." 

There is a resemblance, also in the manner of ful- 
fillment. The Son of God was not sent to spend a 
life of luxurious ease. There was a prescribed work 
assigned him. " I must work the works of him that 
sent me while it is yet day." And with what cheer- 
fulness and pleasure it was performed. " My meat is 
to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
work." 

His was a life of toil. But little is known of his 
early life. Only a few incidents are recorded. He 
was subject to his parents. He was known at Nazar- 
eth as " the carpenter's son." It is therefore probable 
that he wrought with his hands in an humble occu- 
pation ; that he was subject to all the inconveniences 
and hardships of a life of poverty. But from the 
time he emerged from his obscurity, he was incessant 
in labor. He went about doing good, dispensing food 
to the hungry, health to the sick, sight to the blind, 
joy to the sorrowing, life to the dead. 

His was a mission of suffering. ' 'He was despised 
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief." He suffered from weariness, from hun- 
ger, from contact with a wicked world. He endured 
the contradiction of sinners and the assaults of satan. 
A life of unparalleled suffering, closed amid the un- 
told agonies of the Garden and the Cross. 

In the human life of Jesus, we have the pattern of 
our own. There is a work for each to do; a cross for 
every one to bear. The Creator designed us for ac- 
tion. These bodies, so "fearfully and wonderfully " 
formed ; these souls, so richly endowed with boundless 
capacities of thought and feeling, of will and reason — 
these opportunities and facilities, all proclaim a work 
to be done. " Go work in my vineyard," is the divine 
command. The obligation is universal. None are 
exempt. All are not required to do the same work, 
nor an equal amount of work. The work varies with 



Our Mission. 103 

the talents of the laborers and the means and oppor- 
tunities of usefulness. 

The mission assigned the minister, in nature and 
objects, may bear a stronger resemblance to that of 
the Savior; but the work of every man differs not 
materially from his in its aims and results. 

It is the duty of most persons to pursue some secu- 
lar business. But in whatever field we are called to 
labor, one common motive must control the conduct, 
" Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye 
do, do all to the glory of God." 

We are sent to suffer as well as work. "Unto you 
it is given ... to suffer." We need the discipline of 
trial and suffering to strengthen our virtues, to com- 
plete our character, to prepare us for usefulness here, 
and for higher work and reward hereafter. So oppor- 
tunity is afforded to all, by doing and suffering, to 
answer the great end of existence. 

We are sent of God. Whether pursuing a sacred or 
secular vocation, we bear a divine commission. The 
practical recognition of this fact, is the great want of 
the Church. Every member — the weakest, the young- 
est — should feel that he has a work to do, and that 
for its performance he will be held strictly account- 
able in the day of final reckoning ; or rather, we have 
need to realize the elevating and soul-inspiring fact 
that God has graciously permitted each one the high 
and glorious privilege of doing something for his 
glory, and the good of men. He has not placed in 
" priestly hands the exclusive patent for saving souls," 
He has bestowed the power and conferred the right 
on all his followers. The rich rewards of Christian 
effort, may be obtained by the feeblest and most ob- 
scure. Even a child may win souls from sin and 
death. From the narrowest sphere, from the deepest 
vale of poverty and obscurity, may go forth influ- 
ences wide as the world and boundless as eternity. 

The mission we are sent to fulfill, whether viewed 
in its relations or in its results, is one of great dignity 
and importance. Ours is no ordinary work. We are 
called to follow the footsteps of the Son of God; to 
perform a similar service; to toil in the same sphere 



104 West Virginia Pulpit. 

and for the same end. It brings man into sympathy 
and association with God in accomplishing the great- 
est work ever performed. He might have employed 
other instruments to affect his purposes. He could 
have caused the light nings to trace his bow on the 
clouds, and the thunder to proclaim its threatenings. 
The sunbeams might have been made to write the 
Gospel on the azure canopy above us, and the winds 
and waves might have published the conditions of 
pardon. Angels, burning with intense desire for his 
glory, would gladly have become the heralds of glad 
tidings to a fallen race. He might indeed have dis- 
pensed with all instruments, and by his Almighty 
Spirit, by inward movings or outward manifestations, 
accomplished the work of man's salvation. 

But, reserving his power, and setting aside all other 
methods and instruments, he has seen fit in his wis- 
dom to take man into partnership with himself in 
this work — a work of such vast importance as to en- 
gage the thoughts and enlist the sympathies and en- 
ergies of a triune God; that brought the Son of God 
to earth, to toil, to suffer, and to die ; and that calls 
forth his continued intercession at the right hand of 
the Father. Is it not astonishing that such a work 
should be committed, in any degree, to the agency of 
feeble, sinful man ! But so it is, " We are workers 
together with him." And so fully has he committed 
this work to human instrumentality that he seldom, 
if ever, saves a soul without that agency. To take 
the servant's place, to perform any act that will glo- 
rify God, or in any measure advance his kingdom, 
imparts a moral grandeur to one's life. It lifts the 
child of earth to the dignity of a seraph — makes him 
the peer of angels. But to be sent on so high a mis- 
sion, to do " the work of the Lord," to be " laborers 
together with God," raises poor fallen humanity to a 
height of glory that is indescribable. 

This mission imposes fearful responsibilities. The 
obligation of duty, high and sacred, is upon us. We 
cannot evade it. We cannot transfer it. It is for 
each of us to enjoy the pleasure and honor of per- 
formance, or bear the shame and punishment of neg- 



Our Mission. 105 

lect. If we refuse to respond to the call which sum- 
monses us to live for the glory of God ; if we choose 
instead to spend our time and employ our powers for 
merely selfish purposes, however successful we may be 
in the ach ie vement of the objects which usually engage 
the attention of men, we shall fail to answer the great 
end of our existence. Temporal prosperity may smile 
upon us ; fortune may dispense her richest favors. 
We may revel and riot in all the pleasures the world 
may bestow ; but true happiness will be beyond our 
reach. Every flower which blooms along our path 
will give out poison in its perfume, and we shall go 
down to our graves with the terrible, the withering, 
blighting consciousness of an unfulfilled destiny, and 
the eternal future will be a scene of " darkness, deso- 
lation and death," for " what shall it profit a man if 
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" 

But if we do the work assigned us, whatever it 
may be, we shall fulfill the obligations of duty and 
meet the conditions of reward. The glory of God is 
not opposed to our welfare. We are not to think of it 
as something even separate from our interest. They 
are perfectly harmonious. They are indeed insepara- 
ble. While the divine glory is the ultimate end, our 
good is not forgotton. Subordinately this work is im- 
posed, these trials entailed, for our sake, that we 
may obtain a noble character, and secure greater 
good here and hereafter. Now, is the hope of re- 
ward inconsistent with a single purpose to glorify 
God ? Moses " had respect unto the recompense of 
the reward." Even Christ himself "for the joy that 
was set before him, endured the Cross and despised the 
shame." 

Is the Christian sent on a difficult and responsible 
mission ? There is much to encourage. He goes not 
alone. Angels are his ministers, charged to keep him 
in all his ways, his body-guard, strong-armed for his 
defense by day, and stationed faithful sentinels 
around his couch by night. 

He has the promise of divine protection and support. 
"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which 
thou shalt go; mine eye shall be upon thee." The shield 
8 



106 West Virginia Pulpit. 

of omnipotence is spread above him. u The eternal 
God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting 
arms." " No weapon that is formed against thee shall 
prosper." Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfort- 
less — I will come unto you. I will pray the Father 
and he shall give you another comforter, that he may 
abide with you forever." 

In the hour of trial, where toil and hardship weigh 
the spirits down ; when grief w r rings the heart with 
anguish; when friends forsake and fortune frowns, 
how full of comfort the assurance, u I will never 
leave thee, nor forsake thee. As thy day, so shall thy 
strength be." Have we not always found it so? 

As we look back on years of toil, we can say with 
Samuel, " Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." And 
as we look forward, the future becomes luminous in 
the light of the precious promise, " So, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world." If, with 
honest purpose,we engage in this blessed work, we may 
expect the joy of success. We may not accomplish all 
we desire, but the effort to do good is never wasted — 

"If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters returning 
Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill thee full of refreshment/ 

Success is certain. " Your labor is not in vain 'in the 
Lord." u To him that soweth righteousness is a sure 
reward." "In due season ye shall reap, if ye faint 
not." Weary toiler in the Master's vineyard, think 
of the results that will follow the salvation of a single 
soul ! It is reserved from death and the undying ago- 
nies of the world of woe. It enters upon a life of end- 
less and progressive happiness. A period will come 
when that soul will have enjoyed more pleasure, than 
the whole race experienced on earth from the crea- 
tion to the end of time. More than this, it becomes 
the instrument of bringing others, thousands it may 
be, to a like glorious destiny. Not one alone ; many 
you may turn to righteousness, each of whom becomes 
the fountain of influences whose streams, flowing in 
a thousand channels down the ages, may bear myr- 
iads to the home of the blessed. 

In this work is experienced the purest pleasure at- 
tainable in the present life. Who that ever realized 



Our Mission. 107 

the joy of leading as inner to the Cross of Christ, would 
exchange it for all the pleasures wealth and royalty- 
can bestow ? It would be difficult to form a concep- 
tion of the joy the faithful servant of God shall feel 
when, standing on the further limit of a well-spent 
liff , reviewing the past, he can say in his measure, 
as the Savior said, "I have glorified thee on earth ; I 
have finished the work thou hast given me to do." 
Then, adorned and enriched with trophies won from 
earth and hell, he goes down peacefully to the Jordan 
of death ; the hills of immortality full in view, and 
shining ones, saved by his efforts, who had passed be- 
fore to the better land, come down on the golden 
shore to greet him with glad welcome to their bright 
abode. And who shall tell the joy that will thrill 
his heart through the oncoming ages, as he shall wit- 
ness one after another wafted to the eternal shore, borne 
thither by influences he originated while on earth ; 
and when time is no more, to dwell where Jesus is; 
to bask in his approving smile ; to stand among that 
crowned and shining throng, to receive the grateful 
benedictions of multitudes who own him as the in- 
strument of their salvation ; to meet their loving 
glance, to bear their swelling hallelujahs to God that 
he ever had existence. Oh, this will be joy— u joy un- 
speakable and full of glory !" 

This life, then, so high in its aims, so rich in its 
revenues of happiness and honor, is only preparatory 
to the higher bliss and glory beyond the grave. It is 
but the infancy of existence — the bud of being. The 
flower is to bloom and the fruit to ripen in the purer 
world above. If these probational years are well 
spent, we shall rise to a state of glory and felicity 
transcending our highest hopes. Look at the prom- 
ises. u They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He 
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing 
his sheaves with him." Then, "they that be wise 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and 
they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars 
forever and ever." They are exempt from all the ills 
of this life ; they bear the likeness of Christ.; they 



108 West Virginia Pulpit. 



, 



dwell with him ; they behold his glory ; they share it 
they reign with him. They experience "fullness ol 
joy and pleasures forever more/ 7 These passages in- 
dicate the character, but not the measure of the re- 
ward. The reality will exceed all that is revealed, or 
that the mind can conceive. "As it is written, eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 
into the heart of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him." 

This life is preparatory to higher service also. We 
are here at school, serving apprenticeship for the 
great business of that higher life, soon to begin, never 
to end. If, in this initial period; with all our ignor- 
ance and weakness, we may glorify God, can we sup- 
pose that in the state of perfection, we shall cease 
to employ our powers for his glory ? Both reason and 
revelation point to a state of tireless activity. " They 
rest not. Labor, there, will not, as here, be attended 
with fatigue. There will be no weariness of the body, 
no flagging of the soul's energies. Every power will 
be forever fresh and strong, for whatever service we 
may be permitted to perform. That the eternal years 
will not be whiled away in idleness, is indicated by the 
desire which good men feel for active employment. 
" I delight to do thy will, O, my God!'' is the sponta- 
neous utterance of every renewed soul. This desire 
becomes more intense as life passes, nor does it die as 
death approaches. Payson, on his death bed, said, 
" My soul, instead of growing weak and more lan- 
guishing, as my body does, seems to be endued 
with an angel's energies, and to be ready to break 
away from the body and join those around the throne.'' 
And the sainted Pisk, in his last hours, said, " We 
were not placed here to be idle ; no, nor shall we be 
idle in heaven. I feel, indeed, as if I should hardly 
want to go there it I thought I should be idle. If 
the Lord take me away, he has something for me to 
do, for he never gave me such an energy of soul as I 
now feel that I have, without designing me to em- 
ploy it." These aspirations are prophecies of a glo- 
rious future. Here, obligation is measured by ability. 
We are expected to do what we are able to perform. 



Our Mission. 109 

If the same law governs there, as doubtless it will, 
what a work will be assigned us. Every power will 
be perfect. With perceptions of truth and duty so 
clear that error in sentiment or act will be impossi- 
ble; with powers of vision that will meet no obstruc- 
tion, and find no boundary within the limits of space ; 
with powers of motion, in comparison with which the 
sunlight is not more swift; with a universe for a field, 
and an eternity for the period of service, what may 
not the glorified soul accomplish ; and these capaci- 
ties for doing and enjoying may increase through un- 
wasting ages. 

And shall the servants of God, sent on such a glo- 
rious mission, complain of toil and sacrifice ? With 
such bliss in possession, and such undying honors in 
prospect, shall we murmer at our lot? Had we a thou- 
sand lives to live, each one as full of hardships and 
trial as this, we might well devote them all to this 
blessed service. Give me a place among those who 
work for Jesus, Let me be instrumental in saving 
souls from death, and I will gladly leave to those who 
wish to gain them, the wealth and honors of earth. 
To contribute in any degree to such a result, even to 
the imparting of a good thought, or inspiring a noble 
purpose, is a grander achievement than the founding 
of an empire, or the conquest of the world. 

My brethren, there is set before us an object worthy 
of the aims and efforts of immortal minds. Let us 
draw inspiration from the majesty of our mission, 
and, baptized afresh by the Holy Spirit, go forth to 
win new conquests in the Master's cause. Let us toil 
where he appoints, and suffer what he sends. Thus 
shall we fulfill our mission. God will be glorified, souls 
immortal saved, and we prepared for the rewards of 
the endless life which lies before us. 

And when our work is done, as one by one we pass 
away, may we fall at our post, and amid the welcome 
of angels and the joyous greetings of glorified spirits, 
saved by our efforts, may we each hear from the lips 
of him who sent us, in accents sweeter than a seraph's 
song, the thrilling plaudit, " Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant, * * * enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Edward W. Ryan is a native of Fayette county, West 
Virginia. He is now in the forty-fith year of his age, and is as 
young, to all appearances, as he was twenty years ago. He had 
poor facilities for procuring an education ; but from boyhood he 
had an insatiable appetite for books. His father w T as a school 
teacher of the old-time sort, who assisted him in every way pos- 
sible. Early in life, the subject of this sketch read all the books 
he had at home, or could procure in the neighborhood, including 
Paxton's travels in the Holy Land, Dr. Dick's Works, Pollack's 
Course of time, Comstock's Philosophy, &c. His parents were 
religious, and very early in life, he heard the story of the Cross. 
Among the first things he can now remember, and the impres- 
sions then made have followed him through life, were the efforts 
of his mother to implant in his mind the fatherhood of God, and 
his responsibility to the author of his existence. At the age of 
nineteen, he was converted, and joined the M. E. Church at a 
camp meeting in Nicholas county, which was under the supervi- 
sion of Rev. James L. Clark, now one of the fathers in Israel; 
and from that time to the present, he has maintained a religious 
life. 

After utilizing what common school and home instruction he 
could command, he attended for a number of terms, Allegheny Col- 
lege, an institution under the direction of the Baptist Church, at 
Blue Sulphur Springs, Virginia. This was a good school, and 
here Bro. Ryan received a liberal education. 

He informs us that it was his intention, in early life, to preach 
the Gospel ; but just how and where to begin, he could not ar- 
range in his mind. His desire was to practice law, and preach 
occasionally, as a local minister ; but under no circumstances 
could he reconcile himself to the regular work of the itinerancy. 
Before he left home for school, he received local preacher's li- 
cense from the hands of Rev. James L. Clark, who w T as at that 
time Presiding Elder of the Charleston District ; and it was dur- 
ing his college career, that he was trying to arrange his future 
course in life. 

The Lord, however, w T as at work upon the conscience of the 
young man; and, when urged by friends, he half-way consented 
to allow his name to be presented for the regular work, to the annual 
Conference, which met in Wheeling, March 13, 1861. Just before 



Rev. Edward W. Ryan. Ill 

the convening of that Conference, however, he wrote the Presiding 
Elder not to present his name. He was, nevertheless, sent to 
Nicholas circuit as junior preacher. He accepted the position, 
but the war soon after broke out, and he and his colleague, 
Benjamin Darlington, were compelled to abandon their work. 

During this year, the Convention which framed the Constitu- 
tion for West Virginia, met at Wheeling, and Bro. Ryan, next to 
the youngest man in that body, represented Fayette county. 
"When the convention adjourned, he started home, intending to 
become a candidate for the Legislature and continue in politics, 
for which he had a great liking. Before going home, however, 
he attended the session of Conference, which met at Parkersburg, 
March 12, 1862. During this session, he heard several mission- 
ary addresses, which seriously impressed him, and he made up 
his mind to take another appointment. He was thereupon sent 
to Maiden Circuit, where he remained until the next September. 
But on account of the civil war, he was again compelled to leave his 
work, because of the withdrawal of the Federal forces from the 
Kanawha Valley. He went to Ohio and engaged in teaching, 
and intended to remain until the next Conference, which was to 
meet at Fairmont, March 18, 1863. Being greatly pleased with 
his situation as a schoool teacher, he wrote Presiding Elder 
Clark, that he did not then desire to return to the ministry. 
Rev. Henry Stevens was made Presiding Elder of the Charleston 
District, and he promptly informed Bro. Ryan that he (Ryan) 
had been assigned to duty on Point Pleasant Circuit. He was 
greatly disappointed, and obeyed the call with many tears. But 
he went forth into the Master's field, and this may be regarded 
as the beginning of his regular itinerant work, which has contin- 
ued, without interruption, for more than twenty years. 

The next session of Conference was held at Parkersburg, 
March 16, and by it he was stationed at Catlettsburg, Kentucky, 
where he spent two pleasant and successful years — the church 
having grown in membership from twenty-one to one hundred 
and eight. He next spent three years at Hartford City ; and in 
March, 1869, he was stationed at Charleston. Here he remained 
two years, doing earnest and successful duty, and was sent from 
that place to Chapline gtreet Church, Wheeling. For two years 
be preached to large congregations in Wheeling, and at the Con- 
ference held at Guyandotte, he was stationed at Morgantown, 
the seat of the State University, and the pleasantest appoint- 
ment in the Conference. He remained at Morgantown three 
years, when he was sent back to Charleston. When three Con- 
ference years had come and gone, at Parkersburg the Conference 
again assembled, and he was stationed at Grafton, remaining 
two years. His next appointment was the Wheeling District, 
as Presiding Elder, where he is now serving his third year. Be- 
fore he came to the Wheeling District, he preached eighteen 
consecutive years, and only changed territory six times, thus 
averaging the full term in each appointment. * 



112 Personal Sketch. 

Bro. Eyan's ministerial career has been a successful one. He 
is an attractive preacher ; has a delightful imagination ; is fluent 
in speech ; has unparalleled social qualities, and is generous and 
true. He has the energetic mode of presenting a subject, and is 
frequently powerful, because experimental and practical. 

March 8, 1866, Bro. Evan was united in marriage with Miss 
Susan Cherrington, of Gallipolis, Ohio. Mrs. Evan is a most 
estimable Christian lady, who has shared with her husband the 
joys and burdens of life, and has always made his home com- 
fortable and happy. She is among the very best women the 
writer ever knew. 



SERMON VIII 



REV. EDWARD W. RYAN, P.E. 



Theme:— THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH. 

Text: — "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, Zion; put on 
thy beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city : for hence- 
forth there shall no man come into thee the uncircumcised and 
the unclean." — Isaiah lii: 1. 

Zion, as we find it in the Old Testament, and Sion 
in the New Testament, was the name applied to the 
highest mount at Jerusalem. It rises about twenty- 
five hundred feet above the placid bosom of the Med- 
iteranean sea, and from two to three hundred feet 
above the narrow valleys which nestle at its base. It 
is separated from Akra on the north and Mount Mo- 
riah on the north-east by the narrow valley of Tyro- 
soean. It had the valley of Gihon on the west, that 
of Hinnom on the south, and the memorable vale of 
Kidron on the east. 

This mount, because of its superior elevation above 
the surrounding country, was selected by the Jebus- 
ites as a favorable site, and upon it they erected a 
citadel. This citadel was besieged by King David, 
who commanded the hosts of Israel, and the Lord 
gave it into his hand. Pleased with the surroundings, 
he made this the capital of his kingdom ; and trans- 
ferred the court thither from Hebron, and brought 
the Ark of the Lord and placed it in a tent or taber- 
nacle, pitched for that purpose. On this account 
this has often been styled in Scripture the w holy hill." 
Here David constructed a city, including a palace, 



114 West Virginia Pulpit. 

which altogether was denominated "the city of 
David." No labor or cost was spared in order to 
make this city the perfect ideal of the cultured king 
of Israel. The material out of which it was builded 
was of the finest quality, and this was brought to- 
gether in the very best architectural style. Circum- 
scribing the whole, was a strong wall, built in the 
face of the enemies of Israel, with high towers at in- 
tervals, upon which watchmen were placed who kept 
their daily and nightly vigils. From their superior 
eminence, they were enabled to survey the surround- 
ing valleys ; to give the alarm in case of an approach- 
ing enemy, so that the massive gates might be closed 
and all should be secure within. 

The king seems to have set much store to this city, 
and perhaps regarded it as the crowning work of his 
successful life. 

First, Because of the favorable site upon which it 
was erected. Hence we hear him cry out, while the 
chords of his immortal harp are trembling with the 
sweetest melody, " Beautiful for situation, the joy of 
the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the 
north, the city of the great King." 

He also valued this city on account of its impreg- 
nability. Thus, again, while pouring forth the music 
of the forty-eighth Psalm, we hear him exclaim, 
" Walk about Zion and go round about her: tell the 
towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks, that ye 
may tell it to the generations following." He goes on 
to say that when their enemies saw it, fear took hold 
upon them and they fled away. 

Again : David loved this city, because the Ark of 
the Lord, which contained the decalogue, the pot of 
manna, and Aaron's rod, which budded, were lodged 
in the midst thereof. Hence he says: u Whither the 
tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony 
of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." 
No wonder that the devoted King of Israel boasted of 
this city. It was elevated. It was beautiful. It was 
impregnable, and above and beyond all, it was the 
dwelling place of the manifested presence of the ever 
blessed God. The cymbal of the divine glory was 



The Triumph of the Church. 115 

here. Here the king prostrated himself in deep ado- 
ration, and made supplication unto the Lord ; and 
here the Lord through Urim and Thummim gave sig- 
nal answers to his prayers. No marvel, then, that in 
the fervor of his soul, he declares that he would "rather 
be a doorkeeper in the house of his God, than to dwell 
in the tents of wickedness." He asserts that " the 
Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than the dwellings 
of Jacob." 

Though David talked and sang much of this place, 
we have abundant reason to believe that the cause 
was other than any undue attachment to things that 
were earthly in their nature. It seems to be more 
than intimated that he saw in this city, with a pro- 
phetic eye, an emblem of the Church of God in the 
oncoming history of the children of men. Hence the 
fire of his zeal was kindled upon prophetic altars. 

But whatever may have been the sweet singer's 
view of this matter, we are quite sure that the evan- 
gelical prophet, Isaiah, so understood it. Here he is 
most certainly addressing the Church, when he ex- 
clai ns in language that is quite military in its spirit, 
"Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion." As 
if he, from his height of vision, surveying the vast 
field of action, in the oncoming ages, had said, " Zion 
thy foes are martialing, and thou art slumbering un- 
armed and unclad. The foe is upon thee, Zion awake ! 
awake! and immediately address thyself to the dread- 
ful conflict which is before thee." 

We come now to call attention to some points of 
analogy which exist between the "city of David" 
and the Church of Christ, in the world. We shall 
use the word Church in its extended sense, so as to 
imply all true believers who have received the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost, and have been made u par- 
takers of the divine nature." Then, let us see what 
points of resemblance we may be able to find. 

First, This u city of David " was an elevated city. 
It was " built upon a hill, and, hence, it could not be 
hid." In this direction, the Church is very beauti- 
fully and fitly represented. I know it will not readily 
be conceded, upon all hands, that the tendency and 



116 West Virginia Pulpit. 

influence of the Church, is to elevate all who come 
within the range of its power, in the scale of moral 
excellence. But we feel certain that no very lengthy 
train of argument will be required, to convince hon- 
est minds that such is even the case. To put this in 
a clear light, we mean only to appeal to a few facts, 
which come under the observance cf almost every 
person. Who doubts, for a single moment, that a 
protracted course of transgression of physical, civil 
and moral law, brings upon the transgressor hopeless 
misery and degradation ? If any are not convinced, 
let the certain signs of a disease-shattered system, read 
in the blanched cheek, the hollow retreating eyes, 
indicative of the ceaseless gnawings of the guilty 
conscience of the abandoned libertine, pour in their 
united testimony. If any doubt that a course of be- 
sotted intemperance will bring distress and ruin upon 
humanity, let the history of the inebriate speak, as 
he reels and swaggers along our streets, or freezes in 
the gutter. Follow him, while the apostle thunders 
forth the awful fact, that " no drunkard hath part 
in the kingdom of God." Let the pale, thin face 
of the scantily clad widow, and the hungry cry of 
the unfed orphan, tell the tale of dreary woe. 

Now, what is known to be true, with reference to 
the classes here specified, is known, by observation 
and sad experience, to be equally and inevitably true 
with reference to all other classes, just in proportion to 
the ingratitude of their transgressions. If, then, it be 
true that a course of sin always brings wretchedness 
and woe, it must follow that an opposite course of 
conduct will bring about just the opposite results. 
Disobedience to the revealed command of God de- 
grades and ruins, while obedience to God's truth ele- 
vates and saves ; and this truth is lodged in the bo- 
som of the Church, founded by the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Has infidelity ever attempted to produce a single in- 
stance where an individual obeyed the precepts of 
God and was not benefitted, whose sensibilities were 
not refined, whose views were not elevated, and whose 
soul was not peaceful and happy. The best and wises 
men, with which this world has ever been blessed, 



The Triumph of the Church. 117 

were members of the church of Christ, and obeyed 
the word of God. Here it is perfectly safe to assert 
that the church founded upon the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 
stone, is the only true elevating influence known, 
whether w T e consider humanity as individuals, or as 
one grand total. Human ethics and human philoso- 
phy, unpurified by the Holy Ghost, never did and 
never could raise man, even to the heathens' ideal of 
moral excellency. But Christianity has fully met the 
sublimest expectations of its votaries. What has 
paganism accomplished, though it has tried under 
the most favorable circumstances, for more than forty 
centuries, to satisfy the earnest cravings of the im- 
mortal mind? For an answer to this question, turn 
and sweep the horizon of the flowery empire of China. 
Go walk through Japan, India, and benighted Africa, 
then tell us if the heathen systems of religion have 
not succeeded in well nigh sinking man below the 
brutes of the field ? Has not sin, in fact, done nearly 
as much for its subjects in this country in which we 
have our homes? All Pagan systems lack the vital- 
izing principle which is inherent in Christianity. 
They appeal to the appetites and pander to the gross- 
est passions of the human race, while Christianity 
proposes to transform man's very nature and make 
him a new creature in Christ Jesus the Lord. We 
are certain that not enough has been awarded to the 
influence of Christianity by the public mind, in this 
enlightened country of ours. To it belongs the honor 
of preparing us for every noble work which w r e have 
been able to accomplish. 

For proof of the superiority of the influences of 
Christianity upon the public mind, let us for a mo- 
ment compare ourselves, in a few aspects, with those 
nations whose God is not the Lord. Look, first, at the 
useful inventions found in Christian lands. While 
Hindoos, in order to cultivate their fields, simply dis- 
turb the surface of the ground with a rude piece of 
timber, for want of a better invention, we drive the 
fearless plowshear through our rich soil, either by the 
force of our trained animals, or by the almost irresist- 



118 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ible power of steam utilized for that purpose. While 
heathen travelers go on foot or ride on donkey 
or camel, or, at best, are wheeled along mud roads 
in a creaking ox cart, at the dreadful speed of three 
miles an hour, we lay our iron thoroughfares across a 
continent, and the brazen steed at our bidding, with 
muscles of steel and lungs of fire, wheels us through 
mountains, along the rivers and across the valleys, at 
the easy rate of forty miles an hour ; and at the 
end of many hundred leagues still pants lor the 
race. Our mighty ocean steamers have found their 
ways into the ports and rivers of China and Japan, 
and have beached the inferior awkward junks of those 
heathen nations. And thus we might continue the 
points of contrast indefinitely, pointing to the trans- 
mission of thought by the lightning wing, and still 
at every point exhibit our superior advantages over 
those of heathen countries. But what is the reason 
of this great difference. We answer, China builds 
Joss houses and sacrifices to devils — we rear churches 
and colleges, and worship the God of our fathers. 
While other nations degrade their women, giving 
them the place of the meanest slave, and teach, in 
their sacred books, that women have but simply a 
right to serve and not a spark of immortality, we 
reverence our mothers, protect our wives and sisters, 
educate our daughtsrs, and assign them all a place 
in social society, more enviable than that occupied by 
ourselves. Now, I declare that whatever Christian na- 
tions have in common, that is more desirable than hea- 
then nations, it is solely due to the influence of the 
church of Christ upon the public and individual mind. 

Our inventions, our facilities for education, our re- 
finements in a domestic and in a social sense, our 
qualifications for the enjoyment of the sublime, the 
good, the pure, and the beautiful — all these are easily 
traced to the power which Christianity exerts upon 
the human heart. Who then will say that the Church 
of Christ is not elevated and elevating in its influ- 
ences? 

The second point of resemblance to which atten- 
tion is invited, is that of strength, or impregnability. 



The Triumph of the Church. 119 

David builded this city with reference to the strength 
Df his enemies, hence her majestic walls and stately 
towers. These walls were of goodly height, and at 
intervals the tow T ers were situated upon which watch- 
men were stationed, who constantly surveyed the 
valleys of Gihon, Hinnom and Jehosaphat. These 
watchmen were charged with the safety of the city, 
in that it was their duty to give the alarm upon the 
approach of an enemy, even in the distance, so that 
the mighty gates might be closed, and all the people 
within might be secure. Now, it does seem strange 
that while the Church of Christ is constructed ex- 
pressly for man's safety, yet she is now, as she ever 
has been, beset, on every side, by sworn inveterate 
enemies. But the Great Architect has reared her 
wall, in view of, and with reference to, this awful 
fact. Let us for one moment walk about this spirit- 
ual temple; let us mark well her bulwarks, and con- 
sider her splendid palaces, that we may tell it to the 
generations following. 

All will admit that the most important thing for 
the perpetuity of a building, is the foundation. And 
what do we find here? Why, that this glorious su- 
perstructure is firmly planted upon the u Rock of 
Ages." " Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold 
I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, 
a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, and he 
that believeth shall not make haste."* Who has ever 
found a substitute for this foundation? Many have 
been sought out and tried, but still that saying of 
the apostle is true, that " no other foundation can 
any man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 

" Dear name the rock on which I bnild, 
My shield and hiding place, 
My never failing treasure, filled 
With boundless stores of Grace. 

Having anchored the Church upon this foundation, 
to make her even more secure, God has thrown about 
her the everlasting arms of his promise in that he 
has declared that u the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against her. Empires, kingdoms, thrones and 

* Isaiah xxviii: 16. 



120 West Virginia Pulpit. 

powers have arisen and successively followed each 
other into the mouldering scenes of the past. The 
incessant gnawing of the teeth of time has brought to 
dust the polished shaft and the symmetrical tower. 
The crushing weight of centuries has been wheeled 
over the sepulcher of buried magnificence. The na- 
tions have gazed and wondered much, while the 
thoughtful have often anxiously inquired, what will 
become of the Christian fabric, in the midst of these 
mighty changes ? But they have ever hailed the fact 
that layer after layer, and story after story, it is still 
rising toward the grand and final completion. 

I ask what can hell invent in the future, that its 
rage has not tried in the past ? All its infernal pow- 
ers have been laid under contribution, to destroy this 
blessed city of refuge ; but in the midst of it all, like 
the Hebrews in the land of their enemies, the more 
she has been opposed and oppressed, the more rapid- 
ly she has gained strength and multiplied her hosts. 
Like the tree of liberty, the more it has been dis- 
turbed and shaken by adverse winds and storms, the 
deeper it has struck its roots into the hearts of the peo- 
ple. Until it now lifts its stately head, and promises 
soon to extend its protecting shade over all the earth. 
So the influence of the Church of Christ will cover 
the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

Again : This city was the dwelling place of the 
manifested presence of the great God of Israel. Here, 
the tabernacle was erected, which contained the Ark 
of the Covenant, and upon this Ark, between the 
cherubim, appeared the symbol of the divine glory. 
Oh ! what a centre of interest was here. No wonder 
Israel's sweet singer exclaims, "I was glad when they 
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." 
Here he found himself in the audience chamber of 
the great and holy One, where 

"Heaven came down his soul to greet, 
And glory crowned the mercy seat." 

How his heart must have burned with sacred fire, 
when he said, a I would rather be a doorkeeper in the 
house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wick- 
edness." The tabernacle has decayed. The Ark has 



Our Mission. 121 

long since been lost, and yet sometime it may be re- 
stored ; but the true and living God still makes the 
Church the place of his abode. Here he has deposited 
the truth with his people, and has promised, " Lo, I 
am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 

What a blessing to this benighted world is the 
Church of Christ. Who can properly estimate its 
value ? Strike it out of existence, and it would be far 
more disastrous to the human family, than if the 
natural sun were eliminated from his place in the sky. 

Moral gloom, only faintly represented by the raven 
wings which hung around the land of Goshen, would 
be the inevitable and endless consequence. Then, 

" Ah whither could we flee for aid, 
When tempted, desolate, dismayed, 
Or how the hosts of hell defeat. 
Had suffering saints no mercy seat." 

But let us "lift up the hands which hang down," and 
fling to the winds our needless fears, for God, who has 
founded and makes the Church the place of his own 
abode, has promised, "that of her increase there shall 
be no end," and " one jot nor one tittle of his word 
shall never pass until all be fulfilled." 

Again : As watchmen of old were placed upon the 
high towers around Zion and the City of David, so 
that they might scan the hills and valleys in every 
direction, in order to give the alarm in case of an 
approaching enemy. So God calls men to the high 
places of Zion in the Church. What responsibility ! 

"LetZion's watchmen all awake, 
And take the alarm they give. 
Now let them from the mouth of God. 
Their awful charge receive." 

And let them ever be faithful to sound the alarm in 
time of danger ; and in large measure commit to 
their hands the safety of his cause. " Thus saith the 
Lord, I have made thee a watchman to the house of 
Israel ; therefore hear the words of my mouth and 
give them warning from me." What a calling is this, 
and who is able for these things? How fearful must 
be the retribution of that minister, who proves re- 
creant to this high commission which he has received 
from God. 

This text more than implies that, in the days of 
the prophet, Zion slumbered while she should have 
9 



122 West Virginia Pulpit. 

watchful vigils kept. Hence Isaiah's earnest address, 
" Awake ! Awake !!" Here is a source of great dan- 
ger. The danger to the Church does not arise from a 
want of numbers, nor for a want of facilities or re- 
sources, nor yet for want of power. Her chief danger 
arises from her spirit of indifference. The giant does 
not lack for strength for his sure defense, but he needs 
to exert himself upon his foes. When was it that Sam- 
son was shorn of his great power ? Was it while he was 
contending with his enemies in a hand to hand con- 
flict ? Nay, this only served to make even more iron* 
like the muscles of his brawny arms. He lost his 
strength while unconscious upon the lap of the de- 
ceitful Delilah. So the Church may become careless, 
under a conscious sense of her own mighty resources, 
and thus, while at least partially slumbering, her foes 
are forging chains, with which they hope to bind and 
lead her into a strange land of captivity. 

Centuries have come and gone since the prophet 
put the trumpet to his lips, at the command of God, 
and blew the alarm of the text. Zion arose, put on her 
strength and swept forth to the field of conflict. The 
battle has been waging along the ages, with various 
apparent results. But as the years go by, the great 
plan of battle unfolds itself to the reverend and 
thoughtful mind. Many well fought fields have al- 
ready been past, and the strength of Zion still remains, 
and the munitions of war are not yet exhausted. 
Even now she seems to be " coming up out of the wil- 
derness leaning upon the arm of her beloved, clear as 
the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with 
banners." There may be many battles yet to fight; 
many more victories yet to win ; but all the Church 
has to do, in order to final conquest and glorious tri- 
umph, is to obey the warning of this text. Be watch- 
ful — exert the strength which God supplies — put on, 
and keep her beautiful garments clean, and over- 
whelming defeat will be visited on every foe; and 
Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, when the 
conflict is passed and the victory is won, will say to 
each and every soldier, "Come ye, blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Daniel H. K. Dix was born in Lewis — now<TJpshur — 
county, Virginia — now West Virginia — January 24, 1828. He 
was the fourth son of Isaac and Elizabeth Dix, plain, but 
well-to-do citizens of the "Old Commonwealth/' After spending 
several years at home, in early youth, under district and private 
teachers, where he obtained a rudimentary mental training, he 
entered the Northwestern Virginia Academy at Clarksburg, and 
remained fifteen months. He was now a man, and employed 
every available moment of these fifteen months to the very best 
advantage. The result was, a fair understanding of his mother 
tongue, and a sufficient knowledge of mathematics, and the sci- 
ences, to enable him to continue his studies when he left the 
Academy. In this way, he succeeded in procuring, for that peri- 
od, a liberal education. 

Brother Dix's parents, during their entire married life, were 
religious, and all the while maintained "a family altar." To 
their uprightness and godly lives, the subject of this sketch ac- 
knowledges that he owes much, indeed everything, for his own 
straightforward course, and his devotedness to Christianity 
through more than forty years of subsequent life. Eternity 
alone can reveal the full extent and value of the parental exam- 
ple before the children in the household. We can realize, only 
in a very feeble manner, how profoundly this alone has affected 
the civilization of the age in which we live; and yet how silently 
has been its work in modifying, and in fact, changing the na- 
tures and characters of the young of every locality coming und er 
its influence. How important, then, that all parents should al- 
low no opportunity, either of precept or example, before their 
children, to pass unimproved. 

At the age of sixteen, Brother Dix became religious; and at 
twenty-one he was licensed to preach. He entered the West 
Virginia Conference, at Parkersburg, in June, 1850. From that 
time to the present, he has done effective work, or rather has 
been on the "effective roll," with the exception of two years, — 
1866 and 67, when he was troubled with " clergyman's sore 
throat,," which compelled him for a time to retire from active 
work. 

Brother Dix has filled a number of important appointments in 
his Conference; was a member of the General Conference of 1876; 



124 Rev. Daniel H. K. Dix. 

was four years a member of the General Missionary Committee 
of the Church, and has been Presiding Elder three terms. He 
is now traveling the Morgantown District. 

While on the " sick list," Bro. Dix was elected to the "West 
Virginia Senate, and served the people of this State four years 
ably and well. He was, to the personal knowledge of the 
writer, regarded as one of the clearest headed and most valuable 
members of the Senate. He refused a re-nomination for a sec- 
ond term, because it interfered with the ministry of the Word, 
which was his chosen life work. 

Bro. Dix is one of the most earnest and devoted of the one 
hundred and sixty members of the West Virginia Conference. 
He is perfectly honorable and trustworthy, and his nature is al- 
most as transparent as glass. He has been a long time in the 
work, and has left his impress upon the times in which he lived; 
and has not only won the hearts of the people in one locality, 
but is widely known and loved in every portion of the Confer- 
ence. 

" With him life's springtime's over. 
And its autumn days have come; 
, Happy is the honest workman, 

For he's sheaves to carry home:" 



SERMON IX. 



BY 



REV. DANIEL H. K. DIX, P.E. 



Theme :— WHY MOSES AXD AAROX WERE XOT PER- 
MITTED TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. 

Text: — And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because 
ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of 
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the 
land which I have given them. 

This is the water of Meribah ; because the children of Israel 
strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them. — Numbers, 
xx: 12-13. 

The history of Moses is of the most thrilling char- 
acter. One cannot study the eventful life of the great 
Law Giver, without feeling that he was under the 
immediate direction of Divine Providence. A mer- 
ciless decree to destroy all the male children of the 
Hebrews, had gone forth, and Moses fell under that 
decree; but God provided for his deliverance. He 
saved him by the daughter of the author of the wick- 
ed edict, which made so much sorrow in Israel. 

By the direction of Divine Providence, Moses was 
educated by that fostering mother in the very courts 
of Pharoah, and in all the learning of Egypt. He 
arose to distinction in the Egyptian army, and com- 
manded the forces against Ethiopia, returning from 
conflict with victory added to his already great re- 
nown. Before he would forsake the religion of his 
fathers, he stepped down from his lofty position of 
honor and trust, to the condition of a slave. 



126 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Because he vindicated the rights of one of his injured 
brethren, he was compelled to be a refugee in a strange 
land, but God soon called him to a different and more 
responsible life. He chose him to lead his people out 
of bondage and direct their footsteps toward the 
Promised Land — the land of their fathers. Now, 
proving to his brethren that God had chosen him, 
and, again, showing that the most wonderful miracles 
as proof that God was with him, and that God was 
directing their journeys. He exhibited patience 
through all the trials and difficulties of that most won- 
derful journey of the children of Israel from Egypt 
to Canaan ; but after nearly forty years of patience 
and forbearance, by one single act he debarred him- 
self from his long cherished hope of entering into the 
Promised Land. 

O'ne feels sad in contemplating this subject. We 
may well pause, and ask, in the language of one of 
the ', disciples, " Lord, are these few that be saved?" 
Only Caleb and Joshua enjoyed the high privilege of 
entering into the land of their fathers, of all of the 
adult males who left Egypt. Will only a like propor- 
tion of Christians reach their highest hopes, by en- 
tering Heaven, is a question of great moment? 

I. WHAT WAS THE OFFENSE OF MOSES AND AARON. 

In the investigation of this interrogative it is nec- 
essary to call up the circumstances which brought 
about the offense that proved so serious to the offend- 
ers. The children of Israel had journeyed from the 
wilderness of sin to Rephidim, and there being no 
water to be had, they murmered against their leaders. 
They said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought 
us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our 
cattle with thirst?" 

Moses went before the Lord and said, " What shall 
I do unto this people ? They be almost ready to stone 
me." "The juord said unto Moses, Go on before the 
people, and take with thee the elders of Israel ; and 
thv rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in 
thine hand and go. 



Moses and Aaron. 127 

''Behold. I will stand before thee there upon the rock 
in Horeb : and thou shalt smite the rock, and there 
shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. 
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 

'•And he called the name of the place Massah, and 
Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of 
Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying. 
Is the Lord among us or not ? r * 

"It must be remembered that in Numbers xx, Moses 
was commanded to speak to the "'Rock*' before the 
people, -'and speak to the rock before their eyes.'" 

Having given a brief historical statement of the 
case, we will now inquire into the offense. What 
was it ? In Deuteronomy xxii. God charges Moses 
and Aaron with not having sanctified him before the 
children of Israel. He says : il Because ye trespassed 
against me among the children of Israel at the waters 
of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin: be- 
cause ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children 
of Israel." This is all that we have which relates 
directly to the case. They stand charged with tres- 
passing against God among the children of Israel, 
in that they did not honor him. One of the defini- 
tions of sanctify is to acknowledge his authority, and 
honor his majesty, and reverence his law. It is clear 
that they did not reverence his law, as they should 
have done, before his people. This is shown by the 
following facts : 

1. Moses did not speak to the rock, as he was com- 
manded to do. His first command was to smite the 
rock, but, when he was the second time spoken to. he 
was only to speak to the rock.+ 

2. Moses did not exhibit that spirit which should 
have honored God, He smote the rock twice, instead 
of speaking to the rock, or smiting it but once, as 
first directed. There is evidence of a purturbed 
spirit — a spirit that no one can indulge without vio- 
lating God's law. The Psalmist said: "Fret not 
thyself in any wise to do evil." Solomon said: 
11 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous.'' Paul 
says: u Let all wrath be put away.'' James says: 

*Exodus xvii:5, 6, 7. timbers xx:8. 



128 West Virginia Pulpit. 

" Let every man be slow to wrath." Again : For the 
wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 
We should fear, lest, like Moses and Aaron, we sin 
against God. How many foolishly commit sin by be- 
coming angry. 

3. Moses spoke unadvisedly : " Hear now, ye rebels." 
No doubt they were rebellious, but because they were 
was no reason why Moses should speak to them so 
harshly. How easily we may dishonor God, by using 
epithets in a reproachful manner towards our 
brethren. 

4. He did not honor God in the miracle : u Must we 
fetch water out of the rock ?" God had promised to 
stand upon the rock, and it would seem that, if Moses 
had been in the right spirit, he would have recog- 
nized God as the cause of the flow of water ; but he 
smote the rock twice, as though by smiting the rock 
it would give forth water. God's ministers may do 
his bidding, but at the same time they may do it so 
that the glory will not be given to him. This seems 
to have been the case with the two servants, Moses 
and Aaron. 

It is no small sin to withhold the glory from God, 
Herod was smitten because he did not give God the 
glory. 

II. — GOD DOES NOT FORSAKE MEN BECAUSE THEY SIN, 
UNLESS THEY BECOME INCORRIGIBLE. 

1. I am not proposing to enter a plea for sinning, 
but for the sinner. Many think that if they make a 
false step God forsakes them ; that he casts them off 
forever. We do not want to discourage the wayward 
from coming back to their offended friend and Father. 
If we were without precept or example, such a con- 
clusion might be reached. But since we have such 
declarations in the Divine Word as in Jeremiah iii : 
u Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and 
say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, 
and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for 
I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep 
anger forever. 77 And again : " Turn, backsliding 
children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you, 77 



Moses and Aaron. 129 

all fear should be removed, all clouds should be driven 
away. How often God speaks in words of encourage- 
ment. He says by his servant, Malechi iii : 7: " Even 
from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from 
mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return 
unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord 
of hosts." .Yes, we come back to him. " He invites 
us to return. During all the years of Israel's way- 
wardness, God pleaded with them, saying, "I have no 
pleasure in the death of the sinner." 

Take the journey of the children of Israel as proof 
of his unwillingness to let the sinner die. How he 
convinced them by the awful demonstration of him- 
self at Taberah, Numbers xvi: 42: " And it came to pass, 
when the congregation was gathered against Moses 
and against Aaron, that they looked toward the taber- 
nacle of the congregation, and, behold, the cloud 
covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared." Now, 
had not God been as represented in his Holy Word, 
Exodus xxxi v:6,7: u And the Lord passed by before him, 
and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and 
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving in- 
iquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no 
means clear the guilty." Israel would have been 
destroyed. 

2. Take again as proof of God's forbearance the case 
of Moses. Though he did not honor God before the con- 
gregation; did not " sanctify him before the people," 
yet the Lord did not forsake him, nor did he remove 
him from before his people. He continued his com- 
munications with him until he took him from Nebo 
to his heavenly home. 

We must not be understood as teaching that God 
winks at sin. Moses must have repented, for God 
could not have continued his communications with 
him. Though it is not so stated that he acknowledg- 
ed his faults, yet it is clear that God does not hold such 
relations with sinners. 

That Aaron sinned in the case of the Golden Calf, 
is very clear from Deut. ix: 20: " And the Lord was 
angry with Aaron to have destroyed him; and I prayed 



130 West Virginia Pulpit. 

for Aaron also the same time." Aaron is charged, 
also, with the same offense which was brought against 
Moses. He did not " sanctify the Lord before the peo- 
ple." Though he had offended grievously, yet God 
did not wholly forsake him. That Aaron humbled 
himself we readily infer from the fact, that the Lord 
did not destroy him, but that Moses prayed for him. 

3. Take the case of David as another proof of the 
proposition, that God does not forsake the sinner, if 
he will hear him and be reproved. David sinned fear- 
fully against God in the case of Uriah. While God 
could not hold his former close relations with him, yet 
he did not forsake him. He sent Nathan to reprove 
him, that he might be brought back to his offended 
God. The Prophet's lesson was so complete, that he 
saw his sin and exclaimed, " I have sinned against 
the Lord." Here we see clearly that he repented and 
confessed his sin. God said to him through his ser- 
vant, " the Lord hath put away thy sins: thou shalt 
not die." God in his infinite mercy did not cut the 
offender off, but forgave him and continued with him. 
Surely we can say with the 2. Peter, iii, 9: " The Lord 
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men 
count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not 
willing that any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance." 

4. He did not forsake Hezekiah because of his im- 
prudent conduct, in exposing all the glories of his 
house, to the Messengers from Babylon. Here, again, 
have we the proof that a merciful God does bear with 
offenders, though he is displeased with their conduct. 
We can see God's love for the offender, by the pointed 
rebuke by his faithful servant Isaiah. That Heze- 
kiah repented is clear, from his answer to Isaiah, when 
he showed him the fearful results that were to befall 
the Children of Israel, and also his own house. He 
said in Isaiah xxxix, 8: " Good is the word of the Lord 
which thou hast spoken." 

5. Christ often reproved his erring disciples, but 
did not cast them off. He said to Peter, " Thou art an 
offense unto me." Though Peter denied him, and 
even profanely denied him, he sent word to Peter that 



Moses and Aaron. 131 

he was risen : u Tell his disciples and Peter that he 
goeth before you into Gallilee : there ye shall see him 
as he said unto you. 7 ' Peter could see him in Gallilee. 
He would not spurn him from his presence. Nor will 
God turn away the prodigal, if he repents and goes 
back to his father's house. 

6. The churches, in chapter iii of Revelations, is 
another proof of his forbearance toward the wayward. 
How he showed them their follies and exhorted them 
to turn away from their sins. 

Sinners should not despair, though they have 
sinned. The blessed promise is, " If ye return unto 
me I will return unto you." 

Have we gone astray like the Prodigal, let us adopt 
his language, " I will arise and go to my father." In 
the beautiful language of Steele, let us go to our 
Heavenly Father, saying, 

" How oft this wretched heart 
Has wandered from the Lord ; 
How oft my roving thoughts depart, 
Forgetful of his word. 

"Yet mercy calls,— Return ; 
Savior, to thee I come ; 
My vile ingratitude I mourn ; 
O take the wanderer home ! 

"Thy love, so free, so sweet, 
Blest Savior I adore ; 
O, keep me at thy secred feet, 
And let me rove no more. 

III. WE CANNOT WIPE OUT ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN 
BY REPENTANCE. 

If the impression should have found a hold in any 
heart, that we may, by one single act of repentance, 
wipe away sin with all its effects, such an one would 
do well to stop and examine this question carefully. 
While we admit that sin may be pardoned, we strongly 
contend that its effects are not all destroyed. A per- 
son may lead a very profligate life, and repent at the 
last and be forgiven. God in his infinite mercy, may 
save him and take him home to heaven, yet he will 
feel the effects of sin through all the balance of his 
life in his broken and abused constitution. To par- 
don sin, is not to restore health. It will not bring 



132 West Virginia Pulpit. 

back the robust constitution once enjoyed, but now 
enfeebled, and infected by debauchery. 

We know that persons have been forgiven, but die 
of the disease brought about by their gross sins. 
Years of suffering may follow a pardoned sinner, and 
3 r et, at the last he may go down to death by the very 
disease brought upon him by profligacy. Hence, the 
proposition is clear, that repentance and pardon do 
not destroy all the results of sin. 

We may go further, and assume that sin largely 
destroys our success in this life. How many fortunes 
have been squandered by turning aside from the 
right ? Many who have started well have gone out 
into the world "with Christian motives, and with a 
Christian heart, but turned aside, it may be, through 
powerful alurements, until, like the prodigal, they 
have wasted their goods with riotous living. At last 
when in hunger and rags, they turn to God and are for- 
given, they do not find their goods restored. Though 
forgiven, it does not bring back their fortunes. 

We may go still further and apply it to the subject 
of religion. We may be pardoned, but it does not leave 
us before the Christian world as before. Our sins be- 
come a fact of history, and nothing that we can do 
will change that history. We may be called good, yes 
we may be good, and yet the history remains. It will 
cause others to hold such an one with more or less 
suspicion. The history is there. He did so once, he 
will do so again, says the world. 

When a man violates the laws of his country, and 
is brought to justice and imprisoned to meet the 
demands of the law, until justice is satisfied, he goes 
out again into the world, but the fact of his having 
met the demands of his conviction, does not an- 
swer. The fact still remains that he had been an 
offender, and can never be wiped out. Paul claimed 
that he was a sinner, but was saved by grace. Still 
the fact remained that he had been a sinner. 

We may have remorse while we live, because of 
some act done, that has gone beyond our control. We 
may take the life of some one and be pardoned like the 
thief, but that does not bring back the life we have de- 



Moses and Aaron. 133 

stroyed. It will not restore the stricken wife her hus- 
band, and the children their father again, nor will it 
bring back to the parents their child who has been 
take,n away. It is not possible for us to be so pardon- 
ed as to forget all the effects of sin. We may in the 
bitterness of our souls say like one of old, " Thou 
writest bitter things against me, and makest me to pos- 
sess the sins of my youth/' 

3 It may defeat our highest possible attainments 
in our Christian work. Moses did not reach the goal 
for which he started — the Promised Land. It is ex- 
pressly said, u Because ye believe me not, to sanctify 
me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye 
shall not bring this congregation into the land which 
I have given them." Neither Moses nor Aaron was 
permitted to enter the Promised Land. u Aaron shall 
be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into 
the land which I have given unto the children of Isra- 
el, because ye rebelled against my word at the water 
of Meribah." Numbers xx: 24. Moses was taken up- 
on Nebo and permitted to see the land, but could not 
reach the goal. "Get thee up into this mountain 
Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of 
Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the 
land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of 
Israel for a possession. And die in the mount whith- 
er thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as 
Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gath- 
ered unto his people. ''f 

How sad one feels while entertaining this subject. 
Moses the meek, the patient servant of God, who had 
endured so much persecution and suffering, should at 
last fall short of his reward. We have no doubt that 
manyhave failed to reach the highest honor, because of 
disobedience. They like Moses may be saved at last, 
but how much they have irreparably lost through un- 
faithfulness. If such were the result in this life, what 
must be the result in the future? Shall we not fear 
that much shall be lost in heaven? We are to be re- 
warded according to our works. Broken links in the 
chain of our history will not be united again in heav- 
en. There will be much that will be lost. 

f Deut. xxii: 59, 50. 



134 West Virginia Pulpit. 

God took from Moses and Aaron the glory of lead- 
ing the people over into the Promised Land. So 
much of the Christian honor which God gives, may- 
be lost, by some sin that may blur our Christian char- 
acter. It was the greatest pleasure of St. Paul, in his 
last hours, that he had fought a good fight; that he 
had finished his course. He had made no false steps. 
Let us, like Charles Wesley, who so beautifully ex- 
presses it, say, 

"I the good tight have fought — 

when shall I declare! 
The vict'ry by my Savior got. 

1 long with Paul to share. 

" O may I triumph so, 

When all my warfare's past: 
And, dying, find my latest foe 
Under my feet at last. 

" This blessed word be mine, 
Just as the port is gain'd,— 
Kept by the power of grace divine, 
I have the faith maintain 'd." 

We conclude, from the foregoing thoughts, that it 
is dreadful to sin; that its results are far reaching, 
therefore sin should be avoided. Adam and Eve had 
no paradise after their sin. Cain was a vagabond on 
the earth. Jacob had a cup full of sorrow. Moses and 
Aaron lost the privilege of leading the people over 
the Jordan, into the Promised Land. The sword was 
never to depart from the house of David. Hezekiah's 
children were to be carried into Babylon. If these 
most faithful servants of God realized such awful re- 
sults for their sins, what must be the consequences of 
those that sin overy day? May God help us to live 
without sin. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Thomas B. Hughes, son of Francis T. and Phoebe Hughes- 
was born in Fayette county, Virginia, now West Virginia, Janu- 
uary 20, 1836. At the age of sixteen, after nine months of strug, 
gling, he experienced a satisfactory conversion, and united with 
the M. E. Church. At eighteen he was licensed to exhort, and 
at twenty, he was licensed as a local preacher. In 1857 he was 
received into the West Virginia Conference on trial, at the Con- 
ference session held at Moundsville. His first work was Calhoun 
Circuit. Subsequently he served the Church in Glenville, Spen- 
cer, West Union, Middlebourne, Mouddsville, Triadelphia, 
North Street and Zane Street Churches, Wheeling, and 
Cameron. Also Buckhannon District as Presiding Elder, Chap- 
line Street Church, Wheeling, and Morgantown station, where 
hu is now preaching acceptably to a large and intelligent con- 
gregation. 

Brother Hughes is a man of fine presence ; is a good preacher 
and is fully and entirely consecrated to the work of his minis- 
try. His pastorates are efficient and successful, and always 
promote the work of the Church. By his zeal and real worth, 
he never fails to stimulate and encourage the people to their 
noblest endeavors in the cause of Truth. 

He was chosen as the senior representative from the West 
Virginia Conference to the General Conference of the Church, 
which was held in Cincinnati in May, 1880, and was an efficient 
representative. Brother Hughes commands the confidence and 
esteem of all who know him, both in and out of the Church. 



SERMON X. 



REV. THOMAS B, HUGHES. 



Theme :— ENTIRE S ANCTIFIC ATIOX. 

Text: — "And the very God of peace sanctify you whollv." — 
1 Thess. v: 23. 

Justification is a work done for us ; regeneration is 
a work accomplished in us. The first changes our re- 
lation to God, and the latter changes our moral nature. 
Regeneration is the basis of entire sanctification, and, 
therefore, occupies the same relation to it that the 
foundation does to the building — the one is the begin- 
ning and the other is the completion of salvation 
from sin. 

I.— -WHAT IS IT TO BE WHOLLY SANCTIFIED? 

It does not consist in being delivered from afflic- 
tion. Sin, indeed, is the primary cause of all suffer- 
ings. God does, however, permit some of the conse- 
quences of sin to linger about us after we are delivered 
from sin, properly, so called. 

While it is probable that a large measure of human 
suffering is the result of personal transgression, we 
are not, therefore, to conclude that those who attain 
this high state of grace are lifted above the unholy 
influences of sin in this life. Christ, the "spotless 
Lamb of God," was a " man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief," and "the servant is not above his Lord." 
Neither are the wholly sanctified delivered from temp- 
tation. Along the line of temptation, sin, as to the 



Entire Sanctification. 137 

overt act, commences where the will consents, but sin 
may exist in the inclination toward the temptation, 
where no overt act has been committed. Those who 
are made pure in heart are saved from evil inclina- 
tions, and the false leanings of the soul ; hence the 
temptations of the fully saved do not come from 
within, but from without. God's holiest people can 
not expect, on earth, exemption from external temp- 
tation, nor will they ever be out of gun-shot of the 
devil in any state of grace which is possible in this 
world. We do not maintain that when we reach the 
experience of entire holiness it will be impossible to 
relapse into sin. It may safely be affirmed that the 
more grace we have, the easier it is to keep that 
which we possess, and that the majority of Christians 
live too near the border line between the Kingdom of 
Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. The probabili- 
ties of falling diminish every step the child of God 
takes toward heaven, but the possibility of apostacy 
will exist as long as we are in a state of probation. 
It is said that a ball passing from the earth to the 
sun would reach a point where the attraction toward 
the sun would be greater than toward the earth. 
So the Christian, passing up the scale of moral being, 
may reach a point where the tide of his moral nature 
will run so strongly Godward that the heavenly 
gravitation will be stronger than that which is earth- 
ward. In such a state, there may not be much prob- 
ability of relapsing into sin, yet the possibility will 
doubtless still exist. It does not make those who at- 
tain it absolutely perfect. Absolute perfection is that 
to which nothing can be added, and from which noth- 
ing can be taken. No Christian on earth, and no re- 
deemed spirit or angel in heaven can be said to be 
absolutely perfect. 

There is sufficient moral distance between all 
created beings and the infinite Creator for them to be 
eternally rising in the scale of being, and yet ever be 
inferior to him. Those who are fully saved from sin 
are not, because of this, saved from infirmities and 
mistakes in judgment. We can no more be infallible 
than we can be omniscient. What, then, is entire 
10 



138 West Virginia Pulpit. 






sanctification? Bishop Foster defines it thus : " We 
believe it a Christian privilege to attain to a state in 
which he will be entirely free from sin, properly, so 
called, both inward and outward; a state in which 
he will do no act involving guilt ; in which the entire 
outward man of the life and the entire inward man 
of the heart will be pure in the sight of God. It is 
not said that evil and vicious suggestions will not be 
made to the heart in such a state, but both, that there 
will be no outward compliance, nor inward sympathy 
with the suggestions." 

II. — HOW MAY IT BE ATTAINED? 

We answer, by consecration and faith. Consecra- 
tion has a negative and a positive part : The first 
refers to that which must be forsaken, and the refor- 
mation must be complete up to the light possessed 
at the time, and must thereafter keep pace with the 
increase of light, which makes manifest that which 
is sinful. The positive part is what the soul must 
consent to do. As long as there is an unwillingness 
to do all that the soul sees and believes to be duty, 
the consecration is imperfect, and this imperfection 
will surely prevent the reception of the blessing. 

But it may be asked : "What is the difference be- 
tween the consecration necessary to justification, and 
that which is necessary to entire sanctification?" In 
most particulars it is the same; but in some respects 
there is quite a difference. The first consecration is 
made with a view to pardon and adoption, simply ; 
the second is with a view to entire deliverance from 
the defilement of sin. The powers of the soul first 
consecrated were not quickened, but in the second 
they are already quickened by regenerating grace, 
and a living sacrifice is made to God. The second is 
more extensive than the first, because the light pos- 
sessed is so much greater than before. With the in- 
crease of light new sins are discovered and new 
duties made known, and the consecration, once com- 
plete up to the light possessed, must now include 
much that it did not before in order to be perfect. 



Entire Sanctification. 139 

; The faith necessary to its attainment must include a 
clear conviction that the necessary provision has been 
made, and that God is able, willing and ready to ac- 
complish the work now. "Added to this," says Mr. 
Wesley, "there must be a divine conviction that he 
doeth it now." Again, he says: "Faith is the condi- 
tion, and the only condition of sanctification exactly 
as it is in justification. No man is sanctified until 
he believes; every man, when he believes, is sancti- 
fied." He adds: "It is important to observe that 
there is an inseparable connection between these.three 
points. Expect it by faith, expect it now, and ex- 
pect it as you are. To deny one of them is to deny 
them all." The faith necessary to justification, and 
that which is necessary to entire sanctification, is the 
same in the abstract, but in the objects upon which 
faith is fixed there is a difference. The object of the 
penitents' faith is pardon and adoption, but the 
believer, seeking the higher life, has a clear appre- 
hension of deliverance from inbred sin as a present 
privilege, and his faith grasps that. The commands, 
prayers, and promises of God's Word all clearly prove 
that this great grace is received instantaneously by 
faith. Very many of the h} r mns in our collection, 
written by Charles Wesley and others, teach the same 
great truth, and the experience of those who have 
attained free salvation, corroborates the same. 

III. — SHOULD ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION BE MADE A SPE- 
CIALTY? THAT IS, SHOULD SPECIAL EFFORTS BE MADE 
TO PROMOTE IT? 

We shall not hesitate to take the affirmative of this 
question. 

1. We think we can see the necessity of making 
special efforts to promote its experience now, because 
for a number of years the Church seemed, to a consid- 
erable extent, to have lost sight of this great dis- 
tinguishing doctrine of Methodism; hence, when the 
subject began to be agitated within a few years past, 
the people, in many localities, thought the doctrine 
entirely new. Many knew nothing of its nature, or 
how and when it was to be attained. Some under- 



140 West Virginia Pulpit. 

stood, believed, and endeavored to live it, but many 
blindly opposed it. The masses need more light on 
the subject; hence the propriety of special efforts to 
give them the necessary instruction, and also to pro- 
mote its experience. 

2. The work is special in itself, and, therefore, spe- 
cial efforts should be made for its attainment. Regen- 
eration and entire purity are the same, perhaps, in 
kind, but differ in degree, and this distinction has 
been clearly recognized by the standard writers of Met- 
hodism. Mr. Watson, in his Institutes, part 2, p. 450, 
says: " We have already spoken of justification, adop- 
tion, regeneration and the witness of the Holy Spirit 
and we proceed to another as distinctly marked and 
as graciously promised in the Holy Scriptures; this 
is entire sanctification." He adds : " That a distinc- 
tion exists between a regenerate state, and a state of 
entire and perfect holiness, will be generally allowed." 
The views of many others might be given, but we 
forbear. The nature of this distinction is clearly 
shown by a recent writer, as follows : " In regenera- 
tion sin does not reign, in sanctification it does not 
exist. In regeneration sin is suspended, in sanctifica- 
tion it is destroyed. In regeneration, irregular desires, 
anger, pride, unbelief, envy, &c., are subdued; in sanc- 
tification, they are removed. Regeneration is salva- 
tion from the voluntary commission of sin, sanctifica- 
tion is salvation from the being of sin. Regeneration 
is the old man bound ; sanctification is the old man 
cast out and despoiled of his goods. Regeneration is 
sanctification begun, entire sanctification is the work 
completed." We should be careful not to confound 
Christian purity with Christian maturity. The one 
is the removal of impurity from the soul, and the 
other is the continued development of the graces, 
which may go on more rapidly after the attainment 
of purity, than before. If, then, entire sanctification 
in its nature is special, the means for its attainment 
may be special. 

3. The Disciples, by direction of Christ, made it a 
specialty. " Tarry ye at the city of Jerusalem till ye 
are endued with power from on high," was the divine 



Entire Sanctification. 141 

command. Were the Apostles unconverted men at 
the time this command was given? We think not. 
On this point, Rev, William Arthur, in the u Tongue 
of Fire," page 46, says: "The Apostles had doubtless 
received the Spirit in some measure, before the day of 
Pentecost ; forour Lord had breathed upon them imme- 
diately after his resurrection, and said, 'receive ye the 
Holy Ghost,' yet in the time which intervened be- 
tween that and Pentecost, whatever might have been 
the advancement of their spiritual condition, beyond 
what it was before, it rested far behind that which im- 
mediiately followed upon the baptism of fire. It was 
then that they were filled with the Holy Ghost." 
Therefore, if the Apostles tarried at Jerusalem, wait- 
ing specially for the sanctifying power of the Holy 
Ghost, surely we may do the same. 

IV. WE COME NOW TO CONSIDER SOME OF THE OBJEC- 
TIONS TO ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. 

These are numerous and many of them seemingly 
plausible. The first we notice is, that so many of 
the great minds of the church do not believe it, and 
manyhave lived respectable, pious and useful lives, 
and were not particularly exercised about entire holi- 
ness. 

"This objection," says Bishop Foster, " is apparent- 
ly strong, but really feeble, because it carries the doc- 
trine to an improper tribunal, and it brings incompe- 
tent evidence." It is not a question dependent on 
human opinion, however learned and worthy of credit, 
for the Word of God is the only rule of faith and prac- 
tice. Therefore the real question is, not whether 
great and good men believe it, but does God teach it; if 
so, we should look above all human teachers, to the 
only infallible one, to decide this and all other doc- 
trines of faith. Another objection is, that it does not 
accord with the experience of the Church, for very 
few have ever even professed it, and they were prob- 
ably mistaken. This objection is not an appeal to 
experience, but to non-experience, because it refers 
to what the Church has not attained, and not to that 
it has experienced. Would we say, because the sinner 



142 West Virginia Pulpit. 

has not experienced regenerating grace, that it is 
therefore impossible, surely not. Before we can claim 
anything for this objection, growing out of what it is 
assumed the Church has not experienced, we must first 
demonstrate that it believes, enjoys, and does all that 
is possible. Is not the very opposite of this true ? As 
long as the Church is below privilege, it will be un- 
safe to conclude that because entire sanctification has 
not been experienced, that, therefore, it is impossible. 
It is not true, however that there are no witnesses 
of this great grace. Some have lived, some are still 
living, and we verily believe many more will live, 
" Witnesses for Jesus when sin in them is all de- 
stroyed." 

The next objection is, that many profess it, who do 
not give sufficient evidence of its possession. This, 
alas, is too true ; but it does not affect the doctrine in 
question. We fear that there are some sincere per- 
sons who live without a positive assurance of their 
justification, for months, and even years, and when 
they become convinced of the possibility of obtain- 
ing perfect love, they begin at once to seek it, with- 
out the proper instruction respecting the necessity 
of justification as the basis of entire sanctification. 
When such persons obtain justification it is so far su- 
perior to anything they have ever enjoyed before that 
they misname it, and call it entire purity, when they 
have nothing more than regeneration. 

One of the greatest difficulties in the way of pro- 
moting the experience of Christianholiness is the fail- 
ing to understand that ordinarily, if not invariably, 
a positive assurance of justification is necessary in 
order to be successful in seeking full salvation. But if 
we were to admit that nine out of every ten, who 
make a profession of this great grace, are mistaken, 
or insincere, it would not follow that the doctrine is 
untrue. It would only prove that nine out of every 
ten are not what they profess to be, but the doctrine 
would still stand, or fall on its own merits. 

It is also urged that presenting entire sanctifica- 
tion as a distinct work, disparages regeneration. If 
any of the advocates of holiness have spoken lightly 



Entire Sanctification. 143 

of regeneration, which is really a great blessing and 
worthy of its Divine Author, we cheerfully unite 
with those who make this objection, in condemning 
such teachirg, and, in turn, ask them to agree with 
us, when we affirm that the extravagance of some who 
espouse the cause of holiness, is no argument against 
the doctrine. A recent writer answers this objection 
as follows : " Does the teacher disparage the alphabet 
by urging the pupil to leave it and proceed to com- 
bine letters into syllables, syllables into words, words 
into sentences; and sentences into discourses? Does 
the architect disparage his foundation by leaving it 
to erect a beautiful superstructure thereon?" If not, 
then these objections are not well founded. 

Many seem to think that to insist upon those in a 
regenerate state to seek entire purity, is calculated to 
produce dissatisfaction with their present enjoyment. 
If this objection is well founded, then it would fol- 
low that to teach the new-born babe, that spiritual 
manhood is far superior to spiritual childhood, would 
be followed by evil consequences, or to dwell in 
glowing terms upon the beatitudes of the heavenly 
world, is calculated to produce dissatisfaction with the 
inferior enjoyments of this life. But if presenting 
entire purity as a blessing much greater than justi- 
fication, does produce some degree of spiritual depres- 
sion, and thereby cause some to leave the wilderness 
and go over into the Canaan of perfect love ; who will 
object ? 

In conclusion, we would say that holiness is the 
great want of the Church, to give a superior relish for 
spiritual things, to give stability to Christian charac- 
ter, to supply the proper motive power for a useful 
life, to give the necessary unction to impress the ir- 
religious and bring them to the feet of Jesus. "A 
holy church would soon make a holy world. Heaven 
is but a standing monument of its glory, and hell of 
its necessity." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



In the good, old county of Preston, West Virginia, where 
the Allegheny mountains lift their summits toward the skies, on 
November 3, 1833, Eev. Joseph B. Feather was born. His pa- 
rents, Adam and Sabra Feather, were of German extraction, and 
were well to do citizens of Northwestern Virginia. They were 
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and in it, Joseph, 
the subject of this sketch, was baptized and brought up. When 
he was about seventeen years of age, he attended a revival meet- 
ing, carried on by the Methodists, near his home, and was con- 
verted. Shortly afterwards, he was licensed as an exhorter — 
having connected himself with the Methodist denomination — 
and at once took a leading part in Sunday School and other pub- 
lic religious services. 

In those days, schools were scarce, but Bro. Feather pursued 
his studies closely; and by the time he was eighteen years of age, 
he was himself prepared to teach, and began the business of 
teaching the young in the public schools — if such they could be 
called. He taught for two years, but the while was preparing 
himself for the ministry, as he had satisfied himself fully that he 
had received the divine call to that great work. 

January 1st, 1853, at the age of twenty, full of energy, life and 
hope, he was licensed to preach the unsearchable riches of 
Christ. This authority was received from the hands of the well 
known Rev. H. Z. Adams, who has preached in almost every 
portion of what now comprises the territory of West Virginia. 

Brother F.'s first Circuit was Barbour county, which he traveled 
as a "supply," with Rev. R.L.Brooks as preacher in charge. Having 
served his two years "on trial," he was admitted to the Confer- 
ence in June, 1*854, andsenttoGlenville Circuit, with W. L. Hind- 
man, as senior preacher. The two years following, he traveled 
Fork Lick and Charleston Circuits respectively, and his efforts on 
both of them were crowned with abundant success. 

In April, 1857, he and Miss Mary Atkinson, of Kanawha 
county, were united in marriage. Their union was a happy one, 
as they were devoted to each other, and bore the burdens of life 
as one. His kind and affectionate wife died June 11, 1881, in 
the triumphs of a living faith. Brother Feather in writing to 
me concerning the death of his companion, among other things 
said, " She was a great comfort to me, and was a valuable assist- 
ant in bearing the burdens of a ministerial life." 



Personal Sketch. 145 

In addition to those already given, Bro. Feather filled the fol- 
lowing appointments : Buffalo Circuit, one year ; Monticello 
Mission, one year ; Winfield Circuit, two years ; Blacksville 
Circuit, two years ; Monongalia Circuit, two years ; Grantsville 
Circuit, two years ; Brandonville Circuit, two years ; Marshall 
Circuit, two years ; Hartford City Station, two years ; Evansville 
Circuit, one year. On account of feeble health, he took a super- 
anuated relation ; but in the middle of the vear, he was sent to 
Wesley Chapel, Wheeling, by Kev. Franklin Ball, D.D., the 
Presiding Elder of the Wheeling District. During the time of 
his pastorate there, he had a grand revival, which about doubled 
the membership of the station. 

Owing to the failing health of his wife, and at his own request, 
he was sent to Palatine, a small Circuit in the interior of the Con- 
ference, where he remained three years. From there he went 
to Pruntytown, where he served one year. Next, he went to 
Marion Circuit, and remained one year. His last appointment 
is Pleasant Hill Circuit, where he has been for two years, doing 
an earnest work for the Master. 

Bro. Feather is a plain, earnest, faithful Gospel preacher. He 
is unassuming — bashful. He never sought a good appointment, 
nor would he allow any one to do anything looking to his ad- 
vancement, if in his power to prevent. His rule has always 
been to go wherever sent, accept the situation, and do his best 
to spread the Truth among the people. Strange as it may seem, 
yet it is true, because the writer knows the man, he always pre- 
ferred circuit to station work. He enjoyed the work of moving 
among the people, and encouraging them to holy and upright 
lives. His has not been a brilliant life, but like the deep river, 
his course has been silent, steady, onward. 



SERMON XI 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH B. FEATHER. 



Theme— THE HALF HAS NOT BEEN TOLD. 

Text : — " It was a true report that I heard in mine own land 
of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words 
until I came and mine own eyes had seen it; and, behold, the 
half was not told me." — n. Chron. ix: 5, 6. 

Several things have been conjectured with regard 
to the visit of this illustrious queen to the Jewish 
court. Some think she was actuated by idle curiosity. 
Others believe, and not without reason, that she was 
prompted by even lower motives. The narrative says, 
she came to prove Solomon with hard questions. 

Whether she was Pagan or Jewess, she had heard of 
the fame of Israel's King, and of the dealings of the 
Lord with his chosen people. What she had heard 
created a desire to know more. There were questions 
with which her active mind found difficulty. So she 
was willing to go a great distance, at great expense, 
to find the true answers to these questions. She de- 
termined to know the truth of the " reports" she had 
heard, and, if possible, to know more than the wisest 
and most faithful messenger could communicate. 

When her hard questions were answered, and the 
wisdom of Solomon was exhibited, she was overcome 
with surprise. And when the order, wealth and splen- 
dor, which were seen about his home, his throne and 
his temple were presented to her gaze, " there was no 



The Half Has Not Been Told. 147 

more spirit in her." She could hardly sustain this 
scene of wonders. Recovering herself she said, u It 
was a true report that I heard," u but the half was not 
told me." I suppose it was true Solomon was a very 
wise man. The grandeur of his reign has never had 
a parallel among kings. Even the gifted queen un- 
der the inspiration of the occasion, seemed unwilling 
to try her powers of description. She believes, con- 
curs, confesses, and carries back to her distant home, 
the rich fruitage of the best investment she had ever 
made. 

Many years after these noted characters had passed 
away, the great Teacher said to the unbelieving Jews 
that this same " queen of the south " shall rise up in 
judgment, with the men of this generation, and con- 
demn them, for she came from the uttermost parts of 
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, 
a greater than Solomon is here." So, it is the privi- 
lege and duty of the men and women of this genera- 
tion to examine and enjoy the higher and purer char- 
acteristics of Christ's spiritual kingdom; for He Ci hath 
brought life and immortality to light through the 
gospel." Now we can study the exhibitions and Illus- 
trations of divine wisdom, as seen in the work of 
man's redemption. We can follow the armies of 
our Immanuel in their conflicts and achievements. 
We can number thousands of strange coincidences 
in the history of the Church, and of individual mem- 
bers of the Church, which challenge our admiration. 
We can stop anywhere and read inscriptions that 
are written on the monuments that mark the path- 
way of a progressive and increasing host. But when 
we enter the inner courts of this spiritual temple 
and examine the beauties and wealth that cluster 
around its holy altars, we find human language too 
tame to do the subject justice. There are many 
evidences to establish the truth of the Christian re- 
ligion, but the best evidence which one can have on 
this subject, is his or her own experience. We are 
not expected to deal exclusively in theories. The 
Gospel has its doctrines, its examples, its precepts, and 
its promises, all blending in glorious harmony, and 
are intended to show us the way, and act as stepping 



148 West Virginia Pulpit. 

stones to bring us to the Author of our salvation. And 
to know him and enjoy his peaceful presence is the end 
of all knowledge and the fullness of perfect joy. This 
is ths substance, and all earthly substance its shadow. 
For this the great Apostle of the Gentiles counted all 
things but loss. What is art, or science, or learning, 
compared with the knowledge which comes from a 
vital union with Christ? How dim their light is un- 
til it becomes radiant by the light of the Cross. The 
greatest of the earthly great, the greatest ever born of 
woman, Solomon not excepted, is not only less than 
Christ, but less than the least in the Kingdom of God. 
The humblest Christian in this world, unknown it 
may be beyond the limits of his family circle, has at- 
tained to a knowledge far above all worldly wisdom. 
All things are so intimately connected with the work 
of the Cross, that if this had failed, creation itself, and 
all the types and figures which preceded the coming 
of the Messiah, would have proved failures also. 
So if we fail knowing Christ crucified, fail to make the 
pilgrimage to the temple in which dwells the One 
who is greater than Solomon, all other efforts, and all 
other knowledge, are vain. Unbaptised Philosophy 
is madness; baptized unbelief is sin and death. 

This scheme of human redemption is but half told, 
because we can only see it through a glass darkly. 
Even the sanctified believer's view of redemption is, 
in some respects, imperfect. It is written, " Eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared 
for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them 
unto us by His Spirit." By that celestial guide we 
are led to the Cross, and, by the way of the Cross, to 
the rich experiences of a consecrated life. From that 
holy spot the humble worshipper looks over the far- 
reaching fields of revelation, and with his telescope 
of faith, beholds wondrous things. Yet how much 
there is that lies beyond the utmost sweep of his trust- 
ing faith. One of the greatest scholars in the Divine 
mysteries, confessed that he knew but in part, and all 
who reach the greatest attainments confess that they 
know but little. 



The Half Has Not Been Told. 149 

" For now, as through the artist's intervening glass 
Our eye observes the distant planets pass, 
A little we discover, but allow 
That more remains that art can show; 
So whilst our mind its knowledge would improve, 
(Its feeble eye intent on things above), 
High as we may lift our reason up, 
By Faith directed and confirmed by Hope, 
Yet we are able only to survey 
Dawnings of beams and promises of day. 
Heaven's fuller effluence mocks our dazzled sight; 
Too great its swiftness and too strong its light : 
But soon the mediate clouds shall be dispelled ; 
The sun shall then be face to face beheld, 
In all his robes with all his glory on, 
Seated sublime on his meridian throne." 

The light is increasing. That which was dim, and 
dimly seen through the types of Solomon's time, is 
now being revealed through Jesus Christ. As I look 
at the evidences of man's determination to go beyond 
the lines of his past discoveries, I wonder that so few 
are found who are willing to put their barks into this 
broad sea. I am sure our indifference is offensive to 
God, and grieves his spirit. An incident in the life 
of the great George Whitefield forcibly illustrates this 
truth. Near the close of one of his impressive ser- 
mons, he made a solemn pause, and then said : "The 
attendant angel is just about to leave the threshold 
and ascend to heaven. And shall he ascend and not 
bear with him the news that one sinner among all 
this multitude is reclaimed from the error of his 
ways?" To give greater force to his words, he 
stamped with his foot, raised his hands and his eyes 
to heaven, and, with gushing tears, cried aloud, "Stop, 
Gabriel! stop, Gabriel! stop, ere ye enter the sacred 
portals, and yet carry with you the news of one sin- 
ner converted to God." The infidel, Hume, heard 
these burning words, but walked away without giv- 
ing his heart to God, and, in all probability, never 
felt as much like doing so again. In like manner 
many to whom the blessed Savior sends us with the 
message of salvation, treat the subject with cold and 
heartless indifference. 

" The half has not been told." We cannot divine 
the wonders of salvation. We may describe in glow- 
ing colors the scenes in nature and the works of art 
around us, but we cannot draw faithful pictures of 



150 West Virginia Pulpit. 

the Valley of Repentance. We can never tell the 
bitterness of u the wormwood and the gall," nor the 
darkness of the dark hour that precedes the hour of 
deliverance. We would hardly undertake to tell all 
about the " hunger" and "thirst" that penitent sin- 
ners and humble Christians both endure and enjoy as 
stepping-stones to the fullness of righteousness in 
Christ. Human language will never be competent 
to fully portray the struggles of a trembling faith to 
find something in the promises on which to stand, 
while all other hopes pass away forever, nor of its 
victories as it stands and rejoices in the full assurance 
of the Gospel. And then 

1 ' Tongue can never express 
The sweet comforts and peace 
Of a soul in its earliest love," 

Nor press into the limits of a short lifetime the happy 
experiences of the Christian pilgrim as he passes up 
the shining highway of holiness to his home in the 
skies. 

There is nothing to which we can compare these 
spiritual and heavenly things. Comparisons are 
made, but they all fail to reach the reality. The sun 
breaking through the clouds and flooding the earth 
with light ; the day chasing away the darkness of the 
night; waking from a long and exhausting sleep; 
rising from the grave and bounding into a vigorous 
life, and being born again, are familiar expressions 
oy which experimental religion is illustrated ; but all 
of them put together fail to fully show its complete- 
ness. 

The vision of grandeur enjoyed by the happy queen 
at Solomon's court was too much for her spirit and 
nerves; but what was that in comparison with the 
grandeur of that spiritual kingdom which, is fore- 
shadowed by our theme? Some people think we 
make too much noise about religion, but I do not 
believe that we make enough. There may be false 
and hollow professions, which are loud only for the 
sake of noise, but when true and earnest Christians 
learn to invoice their spiritual possessions as carefully 
as they do their worldly wealth, they will rejoice 



The Half Has Not Been Told. 151 

with exceeding joy, and the long-prayed-for day of 
the Lord will then soon be ushered in. 

In the volume of inspiration there are descriptions 
given of future blessedness suited to our present 
faculties; some of these are so beautiful that the 
finite mind can soar no higher. The crowns of glory, 
the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, the walls of 
Jasper, the crystal river, the living fountains, the 
company of angels, the harps, and the songs of 
triumph. These figures of speech are imperfect rep- 
resentatives of heaven. 

" The wide and unbounded prospect lies before us, 
But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it." 

The day is coming, and to some it is not far distant, 
when hope will die in full fruition, and faith will be 
swallowed up in sight. Then we shall meet our 
blessed Savior and the loved ones with whom we 
parted at Jordan's brink, and see them in the clear 
radiance of heaven. Then we shall comprehend 
u with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and 
depth, and know the love of Christ, which passeth 
knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God. 5 ' 

My prayer is that the writer of these lines and all 
who may read them may ultimately rise from these 
" shadowy visions" to the substantial realities and 
deathless joys of heaven. 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



The Rev. Samuel E. Steele was born in Washington county, 
Pennsylvania, February 19, 1832. He was the fifth heir of Wil- 
liam and Jane Steele. There were nine children in all, and they 
are all living except the eldest sister, who died in 1856. His 
father departed this life April 14, 1844, but his mother still sur- 
vives. 

The subject of this sketch was converted and connected him- 
self with the M. E. Church in October, 1850, under the labors of 
Reverends Woodruff and Clagg, in Salem Church, Washington 
county, Pa. It was here that the arrow of conviction first 
pierced his young heart ; but the balm of Gilead was applied, 
and he was enabled to exclaim with the famous author of "Night 
Thoughts": 

"With joy, with grief, the healing hand I see. 
That formed the skies, and yet that bled for me. 
That bleeds the balm I want." 

His elder brothers, having married and gone from home, 
when the father died, the care of the farm, and the family, as 
well, largely fell to Bro. Steele. He was yet young, but pos- 
sessed of industry and a robust constitution, he was well fitted 
for the task before him. Here he labored for two years, and 
then entered Bethany College, not far from Wheeling, where he 
began the studies of the regular course preparatory for the min- 
istry, which profession he felt it his duty to enter. But the 
transposition from hard work on the farm to hard study in 
school, was too great, and the result was ruined health ; so, in 
the spring of 1852 he returned to the farm to regain his strength 
or die, as many thought he would. This terminated his college 
course; but after a while he grew strong again, and for four years 
engaged in school teaching in his native county, among his kin- 
dred and friends. 

October 12, 1855, Bro. Steele married Miss Mary Lee, second 
daughter of John and Mary Lee, of Marshall county, West Vir- 
ginia. In March, of the next year, he received from the hand 
of Rev. William Lynch, Presiding Elder of the Wheeling Dis- 
trict, license as a local preacher, and in April, 1857, with sixteen 
other young men, he was admitted to the West Virginia Confer- 
ence. Most of Bro. Steele's classmates are still living, but some 
have fallen asleep. Among the latter I mention Rev. G. W. 



Rev. Samuel E. Steele. 153 

Richmond, D. D., of precious memory — one of the purest men, 
and best preachers I ever knew. He died young, and his pure 
spirit went to the land 

" Where saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
Their Savior and brethren transported to greet ; 
While anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul." 

Bro. Steele is just in the prime of life ; but when he thinks of 
the numbers about him these twenty years, who have fallen in 
the fight, I do not wonder that he realizes 

" The years are rolling on." 

The different posts of duty to which Bro. Steele, in the course 
of his ministerial life, has been assigned, are as follows : Spen- 
cer Circuit, two years ; Elizabeth, two years ; Middlebourne, two 
years; Sistersville, three years; Harrisville, three years; Guy- 
andotte, three years ; Hartford City, two years ; Charleston Dis- 
trict, as Presiding Elder, four years, and Huntington, one year. 
He was transferred to the Kentucky Conference about two 
years ago, and was stationed at Ashland, Ky., where he is now 
ministering to a faithful and zealous people. 

During these years of toil in the Master's vineyard, about two 
thousand souls have been converted under Bro. Steele's preach- 
ing and added to the church. He has been a faithful, efficient 
and earnest minister of the Word. He preaches well— often 
with great power: I have heard him move large congregations 
to tears. May he live long to call men to repentance, and at 
last, when the great battle" is fought, may he hear the welcome 
appl audit : 

" Servant of God, well done ! 
Thy glorious warfare's past. 
The battle's fought, the race is won, 
And thou art saved at last." 



11 



SERMON XI 1 1 .* 



BY 



REV. SAMUEL E. STEELE. 



Theme :— CHRIST'S GOSPEL. 



Text: — For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." — 
Romans i: 16. 

" Observation teaches us, that from some cause or 
other, a large majority of the human race are ashamed 
of Christ and his Gospel. For, out of fourteen or fif- 
teen millions of the race, less than three hundred 
millions, even, profess to believe in Jesus. Then, 
when we remember that of this number, a majority 
are only nominal Christians; and while they may 
have, to some extent, the form of godliness, they are 
destitute of the power of heartfelt religion. 

Again : Many who are religious, apparently, while 
surrounded by religious influences, fail to stand firm- 
ly by their Master, when adverse circumstances are 
brought to bear upon them. They are seemingly car- 
ried with the multitude to do evil, and thereby deny 
Christ, or are found ashamed, to be called his follow- 
ers. Not so, however, with the author of our text; 
for, after his conversion at Damascus, he was not only 
anxious to preach the Gospel in that city, but in Cor- 
inth, Philippi, Ephesus, and Jerusalem also. He 
even expressed a strong desire (chap. 15 and 22) to 
visit his friends in Rome, who believed in Christ, and 

*Preached at Union Camp Meeting, near Louisa, Ky., October 16, 1881. 



Christ's Gospel. 155 

to preach Jesus and the resurrection, to the inhabit- 
ants of that great Metropolis of the world, to unfurl 
the Gospel banner high in air, with that motto 
which all the ages should adopt: u For I am not 
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." The first thought 
claiming our attention is 

I. THE TEKM " GOSPEL." 

This term means a revelation of the grace, or favor, 
of God to fallen man through a mediator; including 
the whole scene of salvation, as revealed by the pa- 
triarchs and prophets, by Jesus Christ and his apos- 
tles, and is called the 'Gospel of God.* It is thus 
named because it comes from God, and is accompanied 
by the influence of God's Spirif. 

Again : It is called " the Gospel of the Kingdom," 
because it treats of the kingdom of grace, and points 
out the way to the kingdom of glory. In short, the 
Gospel embraces the whole of God's will concerning 
man, as set forth in the Old and New Testament 
Scriptures. 

The term "Gospel" also means the history of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded by each of the evange- 
lists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ; for each con- 
tains a complete history of Jesus — of his miraculous 
conception, of his birth, life, miracles, death, burial, 
resurrection and ascension. It likewise reveals to 
man a future state — a place of perpetual and uninter- 
rupted happiness: and also a place of misery, sorrow 
and woe. This term has still a wider meaning. It 
means, good news or glad tidings ; and I may re- 
mark that it is altogether the best news that ever fell 
upon the ear of fallen humanity. How it gladdened 
the hearts of the shepherds, as they watched their 
flocks on the plains of Judea, to hear the angel of the 
Lord say : " Fear not ; for, behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a 
Savior which is Christ the Lord." And suddenly 
there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host, praising God, and saying, " Glory to 

^Romans 1:1. ^~~ 



156 West Virginia Pulpit. 

God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
to men." Thus was made manifest to the world, 
the hidden glories of God's nature ; how man could 
be reconciled to man, and also to himself; and offer- 
ing also to a world of guilty culprits a remedy for sin 
and uncleanliness ; and extending to humanity every- 
where the broad invitation, " Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give thee 
rest. 5 ' " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters, and he that hath no money, come, ye, buy and 
eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and 
without price." u Aiid whosoever will, let him take 
the water of life freely." God be praised, for a Gos- 
pel that embraces all — that invites all — offers a rem- 
edy for sin to all, and a free and full salvation " to the 
ends of the earth." Surely the Gospel is good news, 
and glad tidings of great joy. We notice in the next 
place : 

II. THE DESIGN OF THE GOSPEL. 

1. It is the design of the Gospel to enlighten the 
mind. God is in his own word by his spirit and 
power, by whomsoever and wherever preached. The 
Spirit of God accompanies the Word, and through this 
Word, or Gospel, man learns that he is a sinner, and 
through this same medium he forms ideas of God and 
his attributes ; and if he worships God at all, he en- 
deavors to worship him in spirit and in truth. For 
man learns from this same source that u God is a 
spirit," and they that worship him, a must worship 
him inspirit and in truth." The heathen worship, 
and their ceremonies are very imposing; but being 
without the Gospel of the Son of God, they can have 
no correct ideas of the author of their being; and 
being destitute of a knowledge of the Gospel, they are 
incapable of rendering acceptable service to the God 
of the Bible. As the sun, the great orb of day, 
is to the natural world — as his rays of light, chase 
away darkness, so the Bible, the blessed Gospel of 
God, is to the moral world; its rays of light penetrate 
the dark corners of the human heart, and enable man 
to walk in the light. We learn from the glorious Gos- 



Christ's Gospel. 157 

pel our true natures; and as the light from the sacred 
page flashes into the inmost soul, we are led, by the 
wooings of God's Holy Spirit, who forever accompa- 
nies the Word. We are thus led to discern the mis- 
takes of life as the results of sin, and, to some extent, 
a knowledge of God. For Christ came into the world 
to show us God. This Gospel, therefore, teaches us 
our true relation to God. 

2. It is the design of the Gospel to teach conviction ; 
or, in other words, to convince us of sin. Nature is a 
grand book to study; but, without the Gospel of the 
Son of God, without the revelations which God has 
made of himself to the human heart, through his 
Son, Spirit and Word, nature would be to us a sealed 
book, and we would have nothing to teach us our duty 
to God, cr our duty to our fellow man, or, even, the 
existence of a God. But with the Bible in our hands, 
with its truths accompanied by the Holy Ghost im- 
pressed upon our hearts, we can read the existence of 
a God in every object that comes within the range of 
natural vision. We can see him in the silvery edged 
cloud; hear him in the storm; and read his foot- 
prints alike in the towering mountain, and valley 
low; the running brook and ever rolling ocean ; in 
every leaf of the lorest, and spear of grass which 
grows upon the green carpeted earth. All ! All alike 
teach the Christian heart the existence of the God of 
the Bible. But to the Gospel — God's revealed will — 
we are indebted for those wonderful truths, which 
lead us to feel that we are sinners, and as such we 
must perish forever, unless relieved in some way; 
and in our perfect helplessness, we are led to cry out 
from within, u What must I do to be saved?" or with 
Saul, when convicted, or convinced under the power 
of truth, " What wilt thou have me do ?" Thus the 
soul, under conviction, is led to appeal for help from 
a higher power, which leads us to notice the remedy 
for sin, as set forth in the Gospel. 

3. What a pall of darkness would forever rest upon 
the guilty soul, sensible of the burden of guilt, with- 
out a remedy. But God comes to his relief, as reveal- 
ed in the glorious Gospel, and offers a remedy for the 



158 West Virginia Pulpit. 

sin-sick soul, speaking in that still small voice, " Thy 
sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee." Hence, 
it is not only the design of the Gospel to teach us con- 
viction, but also conversion, done for us, and in us, by 
which we have " peace with God." For, "being justi- 
fied (pardoned) by faith, we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." That change by 
which Saul — afterwards called Paul — was brought 
into covenant favor with God, while pleading in Da- 
mascus to be relieved from the burden of sin; and 
when he believed on the despised Nazarine, " there 
fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he receiv- 
ed sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized," — 
made a new creature in Christ Jesus, the Lord. As an 
evidence of his conversion, he no longer persecuted the 
infant Church of Christ; but joined with that little 
oppressed band of brethren in Damascus, and com- 
menced preaching Christ, and him crucified — declar- 
ing that he was "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; 
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth." That which he now enjoyed in his 
own heart he could and did heartily recommend to 
his fellow men — declaring this to be "a faithful say- 
ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners." Oh! we re- 
joice in that Gospel that brings relief to the troubled 
heart, and enables each unburdened soul to say, 

" To God I'm reconciled; 

His pard'ning voice I hear; 
He owns me for his child; 
I can no longer fear." 

4. It is the design of the Gospel to perfect the work. 
When enlightened, when convicted, when converted, 
God would have us go on to perfection. "Therefore, 
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us 
go on unto perfection; not laying again the founda- 
tion of repentance from dead works, and of faith to- 
wards God. Of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying 
on of s hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of 
eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God per- 
mit." Holiness, purity of heart, and sanctification, 
are terms found frequently in God's Word. And they 



Christ's Gospel. 159 

have a meaning which should ever lead us to greater 
activity in holy living — that we may be " filled with 
all the^ fullness of God, and be able to comprehend 
with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and 
depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge.' 7 God teaches us in the 
Gospel, to be holy; 10 be holy in this life, to be holy 
now. Trusting, resting in Jesus now. 

11 Forever here my rest shall be, 
Close to thy bleeding side; 
This all my hope, and all my plea,— 
For me the Savior died." 

The tender rosebud, under the gentle showers of 
rain, and warm rays of the sun, soon bursts forth, and 
becomes a full grown rose. So the babe in Christ, as 
such we are when first converted, but under the hal- 
lowed influence of the Spirit of God, and following 
the teachings of the Gospel, as directed by the Spirit 
of the Master, receiving "the pure milk of the Word," 
we grow up to manhood, and become able to receive 
the strong meat, which u belongeth to them that are 
of full age, even those who by reason of use, have 
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil," 
For justification is sanctification commenced in the 
soul; and by giving all diligence, to make sure work, 
that will stand the test, we add to our faith, virtue, 
temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, 
charity. For if these things be in us, and abound, 
we shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowl- 
edge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is God's order that 
we go forward, — that we be pure, — that we be holy; 
and if we do not seek for it, live for it, and enjoy it. even 
in this life, we disobey the command of him who 
said, by his Spirit through Paul, to the Ephesians, 
"Be holy and without blame before him in love." 
The pure in heart "shall see God;' 7 and live with him 
forever. This leads us to notice further: 

5. That the design of the Gospel is to reveal to man 
a future state — a place of rest for the pure in heart, 
and a place of misery for those who know not God, 
nor obey his Gospel, How dark, and how dreary, 
would the future be, were it not for the hope we have 



160 West Virginia Pulpit. 

through the Gospel of God's eternal Son I Through 
his blessed word we learn that if we die, we shall 
live again ; and our faith, resting upon and in the 
eternal promises of Jesus in the Gospel, our hope 
leaps on ; the curtain is removed ; and by faith we 
look up and beyond the shady river, through our tears 
it may be, and we see the millions redeemed through 
the blood of the Lamb, washed and cleansed from all 
sin, congregated before the throne of God, singing the 
song of redeeming love, in heaven's own melody, 
" Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins 
in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and domin- 
ion, forever and ever, Amen." And as the song of the 
redeemed of every land, and of every age, rolls up the 
golden arches of the eternal city, breaking in sweet 
echo, on the river of life, to be taken up and repeated 
by the redeemed forever, is no extravagant fancy. 
This hope of Heaven, by the Christian, has a sure sup- 
port in the Gospel of the Son of God. Jesus promises 
a crown of life to the faithful ; and Paul tells us, " For 
we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 

"0, would he more of Heaven bestow, 

And when the vessels break, 
Let our triumphant spirits go 

To grasp the God we seek. 
In rapturous awe, on him to gaze, 

Who bought the sight for me 
And shout and wonder at his grace 

To all eternity.' 

What a misfortune, that any should miss entering 
into rest, when all might be saved. But, unbelief 
forever keeps the soul away from Christ and out of 
heaven; and fits it for companionship with lost spir- 
its in the world of misery and woe, " Where the worm 
dieth not, and the fire is unquenched." 

"Forever wasting, yet enduring still ; 
Dying perpetually, yet never dead." 

Where all moral influence is forever left behind, as 
the poor, unfortunate lost soul launches out into the 
black abyss of eternal night. "Immense, where grav- 
itation, shifting, turns the other way; and to some 
dread, unknown, infernal centre downward weighs." 



Christ's Gospel. 161 

Unbelief ! thou monster evil ! 
To know thee is to call thee devil ! 
Since thou the cause of so much sorrow, 
We demur to-day, and the same to-morrow. 

This brings us finally to notice 

III. SOME REASONS WHY WE SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED OF 
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 

Shame is a very great passion of the human soul. 
It was introduced by sin, and sin is the only thing for 
which w T e should be ashamed. A sense of wrong do- 
ing leads to confusion and shame; destroys our moral 
courage; renders us weak and feeble in our own esti- 
mation, as well as in the estimation of others. But 
what is there in connection with the service of the 
blessed Master, for which we should be ashamed? 

" Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend, 
On whom my hopes of heaven depend; 
No; when I blush, be this my shame, — 
That I no more revere his name." 

However, there were those (the Pharisees) in the 
days of Christ, who professed to be ashamed of Jesus, 
because he ate with Publicans and Sinners; and found 
fault with Jesus, to his disciples, because their Master 
showed compassion for erring ones. But what encour- 
agement Jesus gives to the poor sinner, who feels the 
weight of guilt resting upon his poor soul, in the an- 
swer the Pharisees received from the lips of the blessed 
Christ — withering, indeed, to the self-righteous and 
self-conceited, egotistical class, but full of the love of 
God, and help for the sinner, " They that be whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick." * * * 
" For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance." Paul bears testimony that Jesus Christ 
came into the world for the special purpose "'to save 
sinners;" and then adds, " of whom I am chief." If, 
then, the merits of Jesus' blood could cleanse the lep- 
rous soul of " the chief of sinners," who need despair? 
And how commendable, and inviting, — instead of feel- 
ing ashamed of the Christ of the Bible, and a Gospel so 
full of invitations, and promises, and effecting so many 
grand results, he is bold to maintain and defend it. 

Again: There were those in Christ's day, who object- 



162 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ed to him, because his mission embraced the poor. 
Now, if there be one feature of the Gospel, or one char- 
acteristic of Jesus, more commendable than another, 
it is the thought that he specifies the fact that the 
poor, especially, are embraced in the atoning merits of 
his blood. And while all are included in the provis- 
ion made, (for Jesus tasted death for every man) all 
may come unto him and be saved. It seems to me 
that the poor have a two-fold promise, " Hath not God 
chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs 
of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that 
love him;' 7 and again, " The poor have the Gospel 
preached to them." But instead of this being a cause 
of offence, and a reason for faultfinding, it but demon- 
strates the greatness of Christ's manhood, and'the puri- 
ty of his great loving heart. Deprive the poor of the 
privilege of becoming the sons of God, and at once the 
happiness of millions of our race is forever gone. For 
many of the children of God can say, — 

"No foot of land do I possess, 
No cottage in the wilderness, 
A poor wayfaring man." 

But up through their tears, it may be, they can look, 
having faith in Jesus, they hold a title, bearing the 
broad seal of the Holy Ghost, to possessions in the 
New Jerusalem; and can say : 

" Yonder's my house and portion fair, 
My heart and my treasure there, 
And my abiding home." 

And as they drop this mortal coil, it is to rise above 
the sky, and be with Christ forever. 

Again : We would not be ashamed to be called the 
sons, or to be made the heirs of the rich, who com- 
mand their millions in gold, or to be put in posses- 
sion of great affluence, or have great honors bestowed ; 
and yet, all earthly honors and riches will fade and 
fail. The tooth of time forever wears and wastes. 
Time — Old Time — is a sword which cuts every way ; 
and soon, very soon, we will be bereft of, or leave behind 
all earthly possessions, for we brought nothing into 
the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But 
not so with those who have treasures in Heaven. 



Christ's Gospel. 163 

Those who have sought and found " the pearl of great 
price/' who have embraced Christ by faith, they are 
heirs of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords — "sons of 
God/' now, " and it doth not yet appear what we shall 
be : but we know that when he shall appear, we shall 
be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." 

Finally: There is no reason why we should be 
ashamed of our home in Heaven, or the associations 
of that better clime. Jesus tells us that the future 
home of the Christian is a mansion, " In my Father's 
house are many mansions." In this world the finest 
and most costly mansions yield to the ravages of time 
and soon decay, but in Heaven, never. Here, the 
grandest edifice soon needs repair — there, always in 
perfect order — all, all bear the stamp of eternity. For, 
when God has blown out the sun, and the stars have 
fallen from their places, and when he has rolled up 
the heavens as a mighty scroll, and all have passed 
away with a great noise, the home of the Christian 
is still secure. God, the Christian's loving Father, yet 
occupies his throne ; and the foundation of the Eter- 
nal City is still unmoved and immovable. Still, we 
have 

" No less days to sing God's praise, 
Than when we first begun," 

As to the associations of the heavenly country — 
how pure and desirable. When we remember that 
God is holy, and that Heaven is a holy place, and that 
none but the pure in heart can enter there, what must 
be the standard of society, where all sin having been 
washed out, all tears forever wiped away, and the pure 
and the holy of every age, kindred and tongue, mar- 
shaled upon the plains of immortality, with the an- 
gels of light, the talL sons of the morning, the cheru- 
bims and seraphims congregated befoie the throne of 
God and the Lamb forever. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Just how much life means, words refuse to tell, because they 
cannot. The very doorway of life is hung around with flowery 
emblems, to indicate that it is for some purpose. Life may be 
grand. God intended it to be glorious, and so paved its course 
with diamonds, fringed its banks with flowers, and over-arched 
it with stars; while around it he has spread the physical universe 
—suns, moons, worlds, constellations, systems — all that is mag- 
nificent in motion, sublime in magnitude, and grand in order and 
obedience. 

But how few appreciate the grandeur of life. To float lazily 
down the stream is to move forward, but unless the speed is in- 
creased by personal effort, the individual will rind himself always 
at the same distance from that which he is following. Eev. An- 
drew J. Lyda. D.D., the subject of this sketch, chose a different 
course. He chose to make the most and the best of the powers 
God was pleased to bestow upon him, and turn to the best pos- 
sible account every outward advantage within his roach. 

Brother Lyda was born in Hancock, Maryland, January 14th, 
1821. His parents were religious— they had family worship, and 
through this great, silent, irresistible influence, his young 
heart was deeply impressed at a very tender age, — so that he re- 
alized the importance of giving his heart to God. The calm, 
deep stream of religious influence, moved on in silent, but over- 
whelming power. 

In a letter to the writer, he pays this beautiful and touching 
tribute to his mother: "My mother taught me to pray when I 
first began to talk." And what is the result of that Godly in- 
struction? That mother's influence could not die. She wields a 
power to-day over the life of her sonj more decisive far than syl- 
logisms in argument, or courts of appeal in authority. So much 
so that not a day has passed, from his earliest recollection, that 
he has not tried to pray. 

He made a profession of his faith in Jesus Christ, and was re- 
ceived into the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
January 23d, 1838, under the pastoral care of the late Rev. Wil- 
liam Simmons, in the Second Street Church, Zanesville, 0. 

Being early impressed that God had called him to the Gospel 
ministry, and that it was his duty to prepare for that high and 
holy calling, he spent four years in Augusta College, then the 



Rev. A, J. Lyda. 165 

chief institution of his denomination in the west. Here his feel- 
ings and passions were disciplined and restrained. Here, also, 
true and worthy motives were inspired, and a profound religious 
feeling, built upon a pure morality, was inculcated. It was 
while he was a student in Augusta College that he was authorized 
to exhort. One year later, in 1842, he was licensed as a local 
preacher. With Rev. Isaac Collard as his Presiding Elder, and 
Wm. U. Doudy — now Dr. Doudy — as his class leader, we are not 
surprised that he succeeded so rapidly that he was recommended 
to, and received by, the Ohio Annual Conference as an itinerant 
Methodist preacher, October 14th, 1843, and was appointed to 
Georgetown Circuit with twenty-one appointments, with Rev. 
David Estel as preacher in charge. His next field of labor was 
Troy and New Carlisle, with Rev. David Kemper — then of Gallipo- 
lis Station — which was then as now, an important and difficult 
field, and required ability as well as piety to fill it successfully. 
At the close of this pastorate, he was sent to Gallia Circuit, with 
Rev. Samuel Maddox. 

This year closed his labors in Ohio. His next appointment 
was to Point Pleasant, in Virginia. While laboring in this field, 
the Western Virginia Conference was set off to itself by the Gen- 
eral Conference of the Church. It was the privilege of our broth- 
er to have been present in Wheeling, when the Ohio preachers 
met with the Pittsburgh Conference, as ordered by the General 
Conference. The tie of Conference relation, which had hitherto 
bound them together, was now severed by one stroke of the Gen- 
eral Conference, and from the dismemberment then occasioned, 
sprang into being the West Virginia Conference, of which Bro. 
Lyda became a member of prominence at once. He was ap- 
pointed, this year to Charleston Station, where he succeeded 
some of the strongest men the Church has produced in the past 
of her history. 

During this pastorate, the recollection of which is still precious 
to the members and friends of Methodism in that city, the chol- 
era raged as an epidemic. Xo pastor was ever called to pass 
through a period of greater gloom; and yet as he was brought 
face to face with the suffering, and dying, and dead — ministering 
to their wants, standing by them in the final struggle, preparing 
them for the grave, and preaching their funeral sermons, he 
proved himself to be, not the Priest nor the Levite, but the Good 
Sammaritan. Here he labored for nearly two years, and did, it is 
but just to say, as much for his Church as any who had preceded 
him, or as any who have succeeded in that field of labor. While 
here, he secured a lot in Maiden, circulated a subscription, em- 
ployed men, and built a neat and substantial church, ready for 
plastering and painting. He had the pleasure of occupying the 
church for some months, before he left the station. He was also 
blessed in his labors in Charleston with a glorious revival. 

_ He was present at Clarksburg, in 1847, when the Western Vir- 
ginia Conference was organized — Bishop Waugh presiding. At 
the close of this session of Conference, Brother Lyda was sta- 



166 Rev. A. J. Lyda. 

tioned in Clarksburg, at that time the educational centre of the 
Conference — a position he was, by both education and experi- 
ence, specially qualified to fill. He occupied this field for two 
consecutive years — the full limit at that time, and left the Church 
greatly strengthened in character as well as in numbers. 

His next field was two years at Parkersburg. Here, as in for- 
mer stations, he showed himself a workman worthy of his calling, 
and in this important centre he performed valuable, and I may 
say, lasting work for the Church. He was sent from Parkers- 
burg to Weston, where he remained two years. The journey of 
eighty-four miles overland, was made in a common lumber wag- 
on, at that time about the only means of transportation which 
could be procured by those removing from one portion of the 
State to another. From this field, after two years of earnest 
and efficient work, Brother Lyda was appointed to Buckhannon, 
where he had a warm place in the affections of his people. 

From this charge, he was brought into a new experience and 
placed in a new relation to his brethren, and the Conference. 
When the appointments were read, he was placed in charge of 
the Parkersburg District, where he remained for four consecu- 
tive years. In the position of Presiding Elder, he demonstrat- 
ed superior executive ability, something quite essential to suc- 
cess in such a position; and also proved himself popular with 
both preachers and people. While on this District, the suit in 
court involving the ownership of the church property in Parkers- 
burg, was decided by Judge Edmondson in favor of the M. E. 
Church. Brother Lyda was present when the decision of the 
court was read, and saw the profound sensation which it pro- 
duced. 

At the close of this term of service, he requested as his field of 
labor, Troy Circuit, where he remained two years. He was in 
this field when the war commenced, and like all his brethren in 
the Methodist Episcopal ministry in the State, he was true to 
the cause of the Union. Many were the dangers he encountered, 
and many the trials through which he passed; but he was firm 
to the end. His courage never faltered, and his faith in the final 
triumph of the "old flag" never failed him. 

From this field of toil and strife, he was removed to Mounds- 
ville Station, but about the middle of the year, having been com- 
missioned as Chaplain of the Third West Virginia Regiment, 
Volunteer Infantry, he entered the service of his country, where 
he remained, true to his Master and true to the Union, for eight- 
een months; when he, for reasons satisfactory to himself, tend- 
ered his resignation, which took effect April 29th, 1864. 

His next assignment of duty was to the Clarksburg District as 
Presiding Elder. During his 'term of service on this District he 
preached the funeral sermon of forty-three men, on Sabbath, at 
11 a. m., in the M. E. Church, at Rock Cave, in Upshur county. 
From reliable information, there were one thousand people pres- 
ent, among them about twenty-three widows and forty orphan 
children of the deceased men. Of sixty men who were drilling 



Rev. A. J. Lyda. 167 

for home guards, forty-three died in Southern prisons. At the 
close of his four years of successful service in this field, his breth- 
ren elected him, at the head of his ticket, to represent them in 
the General Conference at Chicago. 

His field of labor for the next three years, was Chapline Street, 
Wheeling. He was successful in all respects in this important 
station. While here the church and parsonage were greatly im- 
proved, at an expense of about SI, 000; and during his three 
years service, the Church was blessed with several interesting 
revivals. At the close of his work at Chapline Street, he was 
appointed to Wesley Church, where he remained three years. 

In June, 1873, the Illinois Wesley an University conferred upon 
Brother Lyda the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity — an 
honor most worthily bestowed. 

After a few years spent in business life, the Doctor is now the 
efficient pastor of the M. E. Church in Kingwood. 



SERMON XIV. 



BY 



REV. ANDREW J. LYDA, D.D. 



Theme :— MILLENNIUM, OR, SABBATH OF REST— TO 
GOD'S CHURCH AND PEOPLE. 



Text: — The}^ shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy moun- 
tain ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, 
as the waters cover the sea." — Isaiah xi:ll. 

The prophet, in strains of divinely inspired elo- 
quence, reveals to us the advent of the Messiah, the 
establishment of his kingdom, and its final and glori- 
ous triumph in the last days of the world's history. 

In the investigation of what we conceive to be the 
subject involved in the text, we shall submit our own 
thoughts based on the Scriptures, aided in our calcu- 
lations by consulting the writings of others, who have 
given our theme their best thought and attention. 

I. THE NATURE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 

At no period in the history of the world have men 
been entirely destitute of at least a limited knowledge 
of God. A knowledge of his existence, nature, attri- 
butes and character must be derived either from tradi- 
tion, the book of nature or the Bible. The facts may 
be handed down from father to son and from one gen- 
eration to another ; such knowledge, however, would 
necessarily be dark and confused. 

The philosopher enters the sublime field of nature. 



Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest. 169 

Here he contemplates the fragrant flower, purling 
stream, crystal fountain, blazing lightning and roar- 
ing thunder. Then, he turns his eye of amazement 
and wonder to the tribes of living creatures. From the 
smallest insect, perceivable only by the microscope, 
to the largest animal that prowls in the forest. From 
the smallest fish, found in the mountain rivulet, to 
the great leviathan, that baffles with the wild waves 
of the ocean storm. From the smallest bird to the 
eagle that wings its flight through the elastic wind,and 
sports with its broad pinions on the lofty clouds. On 
all these he sees the impress of the wise and Almighty 
hand. 

The astronomer, as he computes the number, dis- 
tance, magnitude and revolutions of the worlds sus- 
pended in the immensity of space, cries out with 
adoring admiration, " The heavens declare the glory 
of God, and the firmament showeth forth his handy 
work." And yet, all these wonderful works of na- 
ture fail to give man a correct idea of God's real charac- 
ter ; hence, he must turn to the Holy Bible. Here he 
finds on every inspired page that God is revealed as 
the ever pure, the ever living, self-existent God — 
throned in the bosom of immensity, and holding all 
secure the eternal destinies of all the worlds. This 
revelation being made in the Bible, is confirmed by 
all nature. These truths, however, are but demonstra- 
tions to the mind. God must be revealed to the heart. 
A saving knowledge of the Divine Being, infinitely 
transcends all other knowledge. " This is eternal 
life to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent." 

II. THE WORLD, TO AN ALARMING EXTENT, IS DESTITUTE 
OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 

The world is said to contain about fifteen hundred 
millions of human souls. About two-thirds of this 
entire population are in paganism ; hence, without 
a knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ, the 
world's redeemer. As a result, look at the dark pic- 
ture the world presents. Go to China, that widely ex- 
tended and densely populated country, with her four 
12 



170 West Virginia Pulpit. 

or five hundred millions of inhabitants, mantled in 
moral darkness. To a great extent they are without 
a knowledge of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ, of 
Heaven, or hell, or of man's real immortality — no Bi- 
ble, no Sabbath, no temples of religious worship ; no 
altars on which to offer sacrifices to the true God. Go 
to India and Hindoostan, lying south of China, and 
you will find their habitations full of wretchedness 
and cruelty. Go to Africa ; here the sciences had 
their origin; here the alphabet was invented ; here 
stood large and opulent cities, and here stand 
the grandest pyramids of the world. For ages Africa 
has been wrapped in a dark night of superstition, ig- 
norance and error. We are glad to say, however, that 
light is dawning upon this land of memorable events, 
with all other parts of our globe. For a moment, let 
us look at our own America. We boast of the best 
government on the earth, of our civil and religious 
liberties, of our nation's flag, of her stars and stripes. 
For the perpetuity of which we have poured out our 
country's blood and treasure. We claim a population 
of fifty millions. Of these, not more than one-third 
are even nominal Christians. If summoned to the 
bar of God, and weighed in the balance of his eternal 
justice, how many of these millions would be found 
wanting? Thus we have presented a brief survey of 
some of the principal parts of our world, and find that 
it lies in iniquity, and men are without God, and are 
living in the region and shadow of death, 

III. THE EXTENT TO WHICH THIS KNOWLEDGE SHALL 
PREVAIL IN THE LAST DAYS. 

In devising a scheme of human redemption, God 
designed that it should be commensurate with the 
wants of our fallen nature and the interests of 
our race. " Therefore, as by the offense of one, judg- 
ment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so, 
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life." " Like as Moses lifted 
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of 
Man be lifted up" to the gaze of the entire world. u The 
knowledge of the Lord shall fill the world as the waters 



Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest. 171 

cover the sea." This period is looked foby many able 
divines as a millennium, or Sabbath of rest and un- 
paralleled success to God's Church and people, which 
shall last a thousand years. 

When will this Sabbath commence? Let us exam- 
ine the question in the light of the Scriptures." The 
"little horn," spoken of by Daniel, the "man of sin," 
designated by Paul, and the " beast," referred to by 
John, evidently all denote the same power, and that 
power is the Roman Pontiff, or the Pope of Rome. 
The overthrow of this power, and the beginning of 
the glorious Sabbath or Millennium, will run parallel 
with each other; one waxing — the other waning ; one 
increasing — the other diminishing. As the light of 
the great Sabbath morning approaches, the darkness 
of the moral night will be sweeping by. Light dawn- 
ing — darkness receding. 

It is conceded that the fourth beast that Daniel saw 
in his vision refers to the Roman empire.* The pow- 
er of this beast is represented as deadly and terrible. 
It devoured and broke in pieces the other beasts. So 
Rome reduced the other kingdoms, commanding the 
whole earth and the navigable seas. Diverse, or dif- 
ferent in its form of government, it had ten horns, 
so Rome was divided into ten kingdoms. There came 
up among these horns another " little horn." It had 
eyes, denoting the far reaching eye of the Catholic 
Church in all her ecclesiastical movements. It shall 
speak great words against the Most High. The Pope 
assumes to be infallible. It made war with the saints 
and prevailed against them, says Daniel. This power 
shall wear out the saints. The Catholic Church has 
pursued the Protestant world with an unrelenting 
hand of opposition. It was this power that " spilt 
the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs 
of Jesus." 

Of the man of sin, it is said by Paul, " He opposeth 
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, for- 
bidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from 
meats." 

Of the beast, John says, u It was given unto him to 

* Daniel vii : 7. 



172 West Virginia Pulpit. 

make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and 
power was given unto him over all kindreds and 
tongues and nations."* Thus the " little horn," the 
"man of sin," and the "beast," all point unmistakably 
to the same power,and that power is the Roman Pontiff. 

How long will this power continue ? History informs 
us that the Pope of Rome assumed the title of Universal 
Bishop under the Emperor of Constantinople, in the 
year 606, and was invested with temporal power in the 
year 755, about the time the man of sin was fully re- 
vealed. 

Daniel says, the " little horn," or the power it rep- 
resents, shail continue for "a time, times, and the di- 
viding of time." A time means one year, times two 
years, and the dividing of time, six months; or three 
years and six months. There were thirty days in a 
Jewish month, and twelve months in a year, which 
gives us twelve hundred and sixty days. As a day in 
prophetic time means a year, we have twelve hundred 
and sixty years for this power to continue. Power 
was also given to the beast for forty-two months, or 
twelve hundred and sixty years, prophetic time. 

John speaks of the Church under the emblem of a 
woman. She fled to the wilderness, where a place 
was prepared for her, that she might escape the red 
dragon, that was waiting to devour her child, where 
she should be fed a thousand, two hundred and three 
score days, or for twelve hundred and sixty years of 
Jewish time. Now, add this twelve hundred and six- 
ty to seven hundred and fifty-five, and we reach the 
year 2015. Therefore, we are induced to believe that 
the power represented by the "little horn," the "man 
of sin," and the " beast" will continue, more or less, 
until the beginning of the seventh thousandth year of 
the world's history, when its influence shall be so cur- 
tailed, its doctrines and usages so fully modified and 
conformed to the principles of the True Christian 
faith ; while all branches of the Church of God are 
flowing together, and seeing eye to eye, shall resolve 
into one Holy Catholic Church on earth, and the 
great Sabbath of rest shall be ushered in and shall 
ast a thousand years. 

* Revelations xiii : 7. 



Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest. 173 

I submit the following remarkable facts, which are 
worthy of consideration : Temporal power, as before 
stated, was vested in the Pope in 755. In 1870 the 
Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, 
proclaimed the Pope infallible. 

The war between Prussia and France, resulted in a 
union of the Italian States. The city of Rome, the 
home of the Pope, being the seat of the united govern- 
ment, and his temporal power was wrested from his 
hands. Thus he stood shorn of his strength. Strike 
a medium between the time that he assumed the title 
of universal Bishop, and the time he was vested with 
temporal power, and add, say 610 to 1260, and you are 
brought to the year 1870, when he lost his temporal 
power. Thus demonstrating the truth of Bible proph- 
esy, and clearly pointing out the Pope as the unmis- 
takable power represented by the " beast." 

We propose to notice some of the important fea- 
tures which mark this period : 

1. The power of Satan shall be curtailed, if not de- 
stroyed. John says, " I saw an angel come down from 
Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a 
great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the drag- 
on, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and 
bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the 
bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon 
him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till 
the thousand years should be fulfilled," so that he will 
exert but little, if any, influence in the world. Now, 
he seeks to destroy the souls of men. He would rob 
heaven, depopulate the world and bury the intelli- 
gent creatures whom God has made, in blackness and 
darkness forever. The great angel shall lay hold of the 
great dragon, and bind him with a great chain, and 
thus restrain his great and cruel power. 

2. Christ shall reign. " He shall reign a thousand 
years." A period corresponding to that during which 
the devil is imprisoned in the bottomless pit. It is 
thought by some that the martyrs will rise, and that 
Christ will reign with and over them for a thousand 
years on earth. We cannot accept this as a Bible 
truth, but incline to the opinion that he will reign in 
his spiritual presence until his kingdom shall tri- 



174 West Virginia Pulpit. 

umph over all opposing systems, which shall be 
crushed before his triumphal car, as he rides forth in 
the greatness of his strength. " His dominion is an 
everasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and 
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." "The 
heathen," China, India, Hindoostan and all the 
islands of the sea, "shall be given to him for his in- 
heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
his possession." "The wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice 
and blossom as the rose." The kingdoms of this world 
will become the kingdoms of God and his Christ, and 
he shall reign a thousand years." 

3. The Gospel will be universally proclaimed. "And 
this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations, and then 
shall the end come." The general spread of the Gos- 
pel is beautifully suggested by Ezekiel's vision of the 
holy waters, when he speaks of their rise, extent, 
depth and healing virtues. The same idea is suggest- 
ed 'by the "little stone," cut out of the mountains 
without hands, which itself finally became a great 
mountain and filled the world. Already the Gospel 
has been preached to every nation under heaven ; but 
it must be so universally diffused everywhere, that 
there will not be a city, town, village, community or 
family which shall not have the Gospel of Christ. As 
the waters cover the bottoms and fill up the chan- 
nels of the sea, so must Gospel truth fill the whole 
earth. " When one man shall not say to another, 
know ye the Lord, but all shall know him from the 
least to the greatest." 

4. Universal peace shall prevail. War has been one 
of the greatest curses of our world. Nations have met 
on the field, while thousands have rolled their gar- 
ments in blood, and gone down to soldiers' graves, 
often to simply gratify the proud ambition of design- 
ing men. There comes a time when the "sword shall 
be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning 
hooks, and nations shall learn war no more." Now 
military academies are established with large propor- 
tions, where the science and art of war are taught and 
men are educated to wield the sword, but, " nations 



Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest. 175 

shall learn war no more." Other, and more satisfac- 
tory, methods will be adopted to settle national diffi- 
culties. " Then peace on earth will hold her easy- 
sway, and man forget his brother man to slay." Men 
will be so influenced by the Gospel, that the great 
law of love will prevail and cement all hearts, while 
the golden chain of friendship shall bind the world 
together. 

5. The animosity of the animal tribes shall cease. 
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leop- 
ard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the 
young lion and the fatling together ; and a little child 
shall lead them ; and the cow and the bear shall feed ; 
their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion 
shalle at straw like the ox." Thus the wolf, the most 
ferocious, and the lamb, the most innocent, will dwell 
in peace together. We see no reason why we may not 
accept the literal statement, and believe it will come 
to pass. 

I am inclined to believe that this world will be ren- 
ovated and purified by fire, and be inhabited by the 
saints of God. That it will be connected with the 
Heavenly City, and there will be communication be- 
tween this world and that. It may be possible that 
we will travel in chariots of fire, drawn by horses of 
fire, and thus make the journey back and forth as rap- 
idly as Elijah went in the whirl-wind to Heaven. 

Considering the foregoing facts and many others 
that might be noticed, which will characterize that 
period, w<hat a grand spectacle this world will pre- 
sent! " Almost like to Heaven, a place where gods 
might dwell and wai.der with delight !" 

IV. THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED IN BRINGING ABOUT 
THIS HAPPY STATE. 

1, The Church. God established his Church on 
earth, Jesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone. She 
is to be the salt of the earth and the light of the 
world. Speaking of the final triumph of the Church, 
the prophet says : " The mountain of the Lord's house 
shall be established upon the top of the mountains, 
and shall be elevated above the hills, and all nations 



176 West Virginia Pulpit. 

shall flow unto it." But how can these things 
be ? Suppose we stand in the middle of the Gulf of 
Mexico — we inquire, whence came this vast body of 
water ? To determine this question, we go back until 
we stand amid the mountain scenery of our own West 
Virginia ; the wealth and grandeur of which are 
scarcely excelled on the face of the globe. Here from 
the crevices of the moss-covered rocks and deep moun- 
tain gorges, break forth streams of water, which go 
leaping and smiling down the mountain sides, and 
soon are lost in the broad and mighty rivers flowing 
into the great reservoir. Now, the question is an- 
swered and the mystery comprehended. So we may 
represent the Church as being established on the 
summit of the highest mountain on the earth. There 
is a moving among the nations, and men and women 
are coming from every quarter of the globe seeking a 
spiritual home in the Church of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. "A nation shall be born to God in a day." 
In accomplishing this work, it is the prerogative of 
the Church : 

(1.) To send out her Gospel heralds. Christ calls 
men into the work of the ministry, and endows them 
with the Holy Ghost, but it is left for the Church to 
send them into the vineyard, judge of their qualifica- 
tions,guard their moral andjreligious character, as well 
as control their labor. God has raised up men adapt- 
ed to every condition of human society ; men of edu- 
cation, thought and reasoning powers ; men of elo- 
quent lips, calling into requisition the sublime truths 
of God's Word, and everything in nature; men of 
zeal, whose hearts are burdened with love for the sal- 
vation of souls, crying out, " Oh, that my head were 
waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
weep day and night over the slain of the daughters of 
my people." Such are the men whom God has sent 
into the world to cultivate ImmanuePs land. Of all 
branches of the Christian Church, no class of Chris- 
tian ministers have done more for the conversion of 
the world than those of the great Methodist family. 
They have traced our streams, crossed our mountains, 
and penetrated our forests, preaching the unsearcha- 
ble riches of Christ, wherever the people would hear, 



Millennium, or Sabbath of Rest. 177 

whether in the log cabin, school house, Church or open 
air, on the mountain, hill-top, or in the valley. 

(2.) Again, It is the prerogative of the Church to 
place the Bible in the hands of her ministers. The 
Church authorizes her heralds to read the Holy Script- 
ures in the congregations, and to preach the same. 
While a dispensation of the Gospel has been commit- 
ted to the minister, and he holds forth, as a teacher, 
the oracles of God, they are to be committed to the 
hands of all the people, that they may read for them- 
selves, and seek for its golden treasures, assured that 
here they will find the pearl of great price. 

The Bible is God's book, inspired and designed to 
make men wise unto salvation. Although there are 
locked up in this Divine book mysteries that may 
never be fully comprehended by men nor angels, yet, 
so far as man's personal salvation is concerned, the 
teachings of this book are easily understood, and its 
sublime truths so plain and simple that the " way- 
faring man, though a fool, shall not err therein." The 
Bible is the torch of eternity, lit at Heaven's own fires. 
This book "God threw from his sacred palace down to 
earth to guide his wandering children home." Jesus 
said to the Jews, "Search the Scriptures." The Bible, 
read as an open book, and correctly expounded by its 
teachers, its truths impressed upon human hearts by 
the Divine Spirit, must ultimately bring the race to 
God. 

2. In carrying out God's designs, the Church must 
employ contributions of worldly goods. When the 
Temple was to be built at Jerusalem, men were sent 
to Lebanon for cedars and to Ophir for gold. God 
makes the oaks and cedars grow, and has hidden the 
precious metals in the rocks and mountains of this 
earth, which are to be developed and utilized in con- 
veying the gospel to all the inhabitants of the world. 
It matters not who may discover the mines, nor who 
may dig the shining ore, God will use all hands in 
furnishing the means to carry on the grand enter- 
prises of his cause and kingdom in the world. The 
people holding the gold and silver of this world, be 
they saints or sinners, should regard themselves as 



178 West Virginia Pulpit. 

God's stewards, and cultivate a spirit of large benevo- 
lence, " Giving as the Lord hath prospered them." 

Thus we conclude, that with a holy ministry, a Holy 
Bible, and consecrated means, the Church will be able 
to take the world for God. Praise the name of Jesus ! 
The ministers are working, the gold and silver are 
working; the press is working, and through all these 
God-appointed means the Holy Ghost is working, so 
that the time must come when the cry w T ill go up from 
every land, and kindred, and tongue, and people, on 
the face of the whole earth. "Hallelujah! for the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 

This will be a season of great peace and prosperity 
to the Church. True, much is yet to be done, but 
when we survey the past three-score years, we are as- 
tounded at the rapid march of the arts and sciences, 
and the grand success of the Gospel, the building of 
Churches, and the planting of institutions of learn- 
ing, we may well conclude that the coming century 
w T ill far exceed anything the world has ever wit- 
nessed. During the past half century the earth has 
been begirted with iron bands; rivers have been 
bridged; mountains tunneled; valleys raised; and 
now the iron horse goes sweeping through our moun- 
tains and forests with wonderful speed, while intelli- 
gence iscommunicated from one partof this continent, 
and of the world, to the other, as on wings of light- 
ning ; but nothing has been more rapid in its brilliant 
career than the glorious Gospel of the Son of God; 
and men have been hearing Messiah's name from the 
rising to the going down of the sun. We may not 
live to see the light of the Millenial day, but our 
children's children may live when the Jews will ac- 
knowledge the Messiah ; when Jerusalem shall be re- 
built, and salvation shall be heard in her streets ; 
w T hen the whole earth shall be the garden of the Lord, 
and 

" Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run ; 
His kingdom spread from shore to shore, 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



In 1866, a call was published by the Christian Advocate for young 
ministers to labor in West Virginia. Among those who respodn- 
ed to this call was the Key. Samuel B. D. Prickitt. He was born 
at Columbus, Georgia, in 1840 — his parents having resided there 
for a few years. Shortly after the birth of the subject of this 
sketch, they returned to their former New Jersey home, where 
Samuel grew up, and was liberally educated in Burlington 
county, of that State. 

When he arrived in West Virginia, he was employed by the 
Rev. Thomas H. Monroe, then Presiding Elder of the Parkers- 
burg District, and was placed in charge of the M. E. Church at 
Elizabeth, and Burning Springs, Wirt county. The following 
year, 1867, he was admitted into the West Virginia Conference 
on trial; and from that time till the present, he has steadily risen 
until he occupies a high rank among his brethren. He has rilled a 
number of important stations, including Zane Street Church, 
Wheeling, and State Street Church, Charleston ; and at this 
time is Presiding Elder of the Guyandotte District, with residence 
at Huntington. 

He was, for a long time, Treasurer of the Conference Aid So- 
ciety, and for several years past, he has officiated as Statistical 
Secretary of the Conference, a position his carefulness and meth- 
odical habits specially qualify him to fill. 

Brother Prickitt is a superior preacher. He has read a great 
deal, and digested what he has read. He is a close thinker, and 
always writes his sermons with care. His mind is naturally log- 
ical, and his sermons, therefore, are always clear and incisive. 
He is industrious, and is at once a fine preacher, a diligent pas- 
tor, and a thorough business man. 



SERMON XV. 



BY 



REV.S. B.D. PRICKITT.P.E. 



- Theme— PREACHING THE GOSPEL * 
Text. — "And there they preached the Gospel. — Acts xiv: 7. 

In this chapter we are introduced to two men in the 
midst of a remarkable career. They are engaged in a 
work the design of which, when properly understood, 
must have commended itself to all. Their purpose 
was not merely to make men acquainted with, but to 
bring them back to, God. Starting from Antioch, 
where they had been separated for the work by direc- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, they had sailed to Cyprus; from 
thence through Perga and Antioch in Pisidia, they 
came unto Iconium, where, being threatened with an 
assault both by Jews and Gentiles, "they fled unto 
Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the 
region thatlieth round about, and there they preached 
the Gospel." 

There was nothing new in their design, which was, 
as we have said, to bring men to the knowledge and 
love of God. This was the problem which had puzzled 
the wisest of philosophers and the best of men. And 
although, even at that early period of the world's his- 
tory, the triumphs of human genius had been marvel- 
ous, resulting in achievements which challenge our 
admiration, there is one achievement to which it had 

'-Preached before the WestVirginia Conference at Morgantown, Octo- 
ber 1, 1879. 



Preaching the Gospel. 181 

never been adequate, one feat which it has always 
failed to accomplish. It has never been able to climb 
to the throne of Jehovah and find out God. It has 
never been able to discover a way of deliverance from 
sin. Although there was nothing new in their design, 
there was, however, something new in their plan and 
mode of procedure. Their theory was God's, and their 
mode of procedure was divinely appointed. God gave 
the world ample time and a fair field in which to make 
the experiment, and for four thousand years men had 
been groping in darkness, and falling into one super- 
stition after another, in vain attempts to arrive at a 
knowledge of the truth. Then, when the fullness of 
time had come, God appears, revealing himself in the 
person of Christ, and opening a way of deliverance for 
man. Our text presents this way — this plan, which 
is the Gospel; and the agency for publishing it, which 
is the living ministry. Let us examine these. 

I. THE GOSPEL. 

In noticing this plan, we will find that it has every 
qualification requisite to success. It not only con- 
tains everything necessary to the salvation of those 
who accept it, but everything necessary to attract the 
attention, to convince the judgment, and to win the 
affections of those who listen to it. 

1. It contains nothing contrary to what man accepts 
as truth; and it takes his faint conceptions, and throws 
upon them additional light. There are certain truths 
which are universally acknowledged — which have 
been held by man everywhere; certain truths which, 
being clothed according to the peculiar taste or traits 
of mind of each nation and tribe, it not, indeed, of each 
individual, thus took on a different form or coloring, 
but which, stripped of these, always exhibit the same 
features. There is, for instance, the idea of God; the 
awful fact of sin; the terrible truth that God is offend- 
ed; and, perhaps, a faint idea that God is willing to be 
reconciled. 

Take the first of these; the idea of God. Whether 
we believe, with some, that the presence of this truth 
rested upon tradition alone, or, with others, that it is 



182 West Virginia Pulpit. 

connatural to the human mind, we may, as a matter of 
fact, affirm the universality of the idea. There has 
not been found a race of men who. were utterly desti- 
tute of some knowledge of a Supreme Being. 

So with the second of these: the awful fact of sin. 
The presence of evil in the world is a fact which has 
always been recognized by man. It is a fact just as 
distinctly marked in the experience of the human 
heart, and in the history of the race, as any fact in 
the physical universe around us. Sin meets us at ev- 
ery step in life; and if there is a fact anywhere record- 
ed upon the pages of history, or written upon the ex- 
perience of the race, it is the fact that sin, with its ter- 
rific consequences, is abroad everywhere in our world. 
It is not merely a doctrine taught in the book of rev- 
elation; it is not simply a truth presented by divine 
inspiration for our acceptance, but it is a stern fact 
that meets us everywhere, where the Bible has been 
and where the Bible has never been. Where men 
have never heard of this blessed Gospel, sin is there 
just as certainly as in this land of Bibles. And being 
thus universally present, it has been universally recog- 
nized by man. 

So, too, with the third of these truths: the terrible 
truth that God was offended with man. The univer- 
sal prevalence of this truth is seen in the fact that 
wherever man has attempted worship (and you find 
him nowhere except as a worshipper — he is a religious 
being), whenever he has attempted to approach God, 
the prevailing attitude is that of fear; he seems ever 
conscious that the anger of Jehovah is upon him. And 
coupled with this is the faint idea that God is willing 
to be reconciled — that, in some way, it is possible to 
propitiate the Majesty of heaven. Not only is there 
found resting upon the heart of universal humanity a 
deep and abiding conviction that something must be 
done to expiate the guilt of sin, some restitution must 
be made, some suffering must be endured, some sacri- 
fice offered, to atone for past misdeeds; but in connec- 
tion with this is the idea, the hope, that God will be 
propitious. Hence, men in all ages have had recourse 
to penances and prayers, to self-inflicted tortures and 



Preaching the Gospel. 183 

costly sacrifices, to appease a righteous anger which 
their sins had excited, and avert an impending pun- 
ishment. Sacrificial offerings have prevailed in every 
nation and in every age. 

Now, the universal prevalence of these truths not 
only prepared the way for the acceptance of the Gospel, 
but the fact that the Gospel not only contained noth- 
ing contrary to these ideas, but gave additional light 
on these points, proves its divine origin and rendered 
the work of the apostles comparatively easy. 

Starting with the first of these, the idea of God, the 
Gospel gives additional light. The world was with- 
out any knowledge of God as a merciful and divine 
Father. The universe was full of God. Everywhere 
the demonstration of God is complete and perfect; but 
without revelation there is no other knowledge of God 
than that of great and inexorable Power that has 
originated this universe and set it going. But this 
Gospel reveals the additional and glorious fact of the 
Fatherhood of God — reveals the gracious truth that 
he is a compassionate, tender, loving Father, and that 
we are his children. And then, as to the fact of sin : 
The Gospel, carrying with it the Old Testament rev- 
elation, gives the only satisfactory explanation as to 
how ein came into the world; not why God per- 
mitted it to enter, but how it came. And no matter 
how you interpret the account in Genesis, whether 
you give it a literal or a figurative interpretation, it 
is there clearly shown that God is not the author of 
our misery and woe, but that by man's disobedience, 
by man's choice, sin entered the world, and death by 
sin. And God is shown to be offended because of our 
sin. And then, as to the possibility of reconciliation, 
the Gospel alone shows the way and provides the sac- 
rifice. It shows that all the sacrifices of the Mosaic 
dispensation, and all the offerings of the heathen, 
which must have come down to them from primitive 
revelation, are insufficient and unmeaning, save as 
they point to Christ as the Lamb of God, who died to 
take away the sins of the world. In examining this 
plan further, we notice : 

2. Its conditions are simple and suited to all. It 



184 West Virginia Pulpit. 

not only provides a universal salvation, but the con- 
ditions upon which its blessings are to be bestowed, 
its privileges enjoyed, are such that man everywhere 
is found capable of meeting them : repentance and 
faith — repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Offering, as it does, salvation to all on 
the ground of faith, it goes to every man, and calls 
upon him to exercise that which arises within him 
naturally and necessarily on its appropriate occasions. 
All men have faith. They have faith in something, 
though they may not have faith in God. Man can- 
not help believing. The state of mind which we term 
faith, exists in us by our very nature. It is not only 
there, but, by the very constitution of our nature, it 
must remain there while man is what he is. And 
the Gospel, by presenting Christ as the object of faith, 
and offering to man spiritual restoration on the ground 
of faith, not only rendered its acceptance possible to 
all, but placed it upon the only principle in our nature 
which constitutes the true bond of union between God 
and man. Faith is the tie which binds us to our Ma- 
ker ; and no other principle, standing first, and stand- 
ing alone, can take its place. And then : 

3. The Gospel meets the yearnings — the longings 
— of our race for an incarnation. Humanity, in all 
ages, anterior to the incarnation, has evinced this 
longing for some such provision as the Gospel makes 
for its moral and spiritual necessities in the incarna- 
tion, death and ascension of Jesus. All its mythol- 
ogies and speculations were but so many unconscious 
prophecies and longings of humanity for a divine- 
human prophet, priest and king. This Gospel of ours 
claims, indeed, to be the " great mystery of godliness 
— God manifest in the flesh," and to be foolishness to 
the wisdom of this world ; yet it by no means claims 
to be out of analogy with all that men had ever 
thought or felt before. It represents all creation as 
groaning and travailing in pain until now, and it 
represents Jesus as the stiller of creation's groans, 
himself at once the eternal Son of God, and the leader 
of humanity in its final march to victory and the re- 
alization of its unspeakable desires. And it was this 



Preaching the Gospel. 185 

Deity in human form, walking among men, leaning 
on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slamber- 
ing in the manger, and bleeding on the Cross — this 
Divine man presented to us in the Gospel, that, de- 
spite the prejudices of the synagogue and the doubts 
of the academy, found, and still finds, his way to the 
hearts of the masses. 

But, perhaps, the crowning excellence of the Gos- 
pel is in this: 

4. It submits its claims to the test of actual and 
individual experiment, and thus offers to each a 
demonstration of its truth. It suspends its claims to 
human acceptance upon the spiritual miracles of the 
new creation — upon certain inward emotions or ex- 
periences. It said, and still says, If you will try it, 
you shall know ; if you will do his will, you shall know 
whether it is of God or of man. If you will believe 
in Jesus, if you will take Christ into your heart, you 
shall have the witness in yourself. The whole scheme 
is submitted to actual human experiment, and if it is 
not from God, you will know it; but if it is from God, 
you will feel it, for it will accompany itself by its own 
witness. Christ says, u Come unto me, and ye shall 
find rest." And this pivotal promise is given to man : 
" If any man will do, he shall know." It does not say, 
if the man is a scholar — if he is scientific ; but what it 
says comes right to each and all : " If any man will 
do his will, he shall know," And containing this 
promise, the Gospel carried with it a demonstration 
— a demonstration that came, not before, but after, be- 
lief; a demonstration of the spirit; a gracious and 
soul-satisfying conviction, not created by science, not 
begotten of the logical understanding, but welling up 
from the innermost depths of the soul, which is to the 
trusting one " as a well of water springing up to ever- 
lasting life." Glory be to God for this, which seems 
to me to be its crowning excellence — that if we will 



13 



186 West Virginia Pulpit. 

do, we shall know ; if we will accept, if we will be- 
lieve, 

"The spirit answers to the blood, 
And tells me I am born of God." 

Now let us notice, 

II. THE AGENTS. 

The agents were the living ministers , not angels, 
but men — ordinary men, the average man. As Paul 
said to these Lycaonians, " Men of like passions with 
you." If you look at the earlier apostles, and espe- 
cially the original twelve, I think it will be seen that 
the Master, in selecting them, had reference to some- 
thing else, something better, than intellectual 
strength or extra learning. I think it can be shown 
that, as they were selected from the common, the or- 
dinary walks of life, that, while they were not ignor- 
ant men in the objectionable sense of that term, yet 
they were not, as a whole, above the average. Says 
Paul*: " But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and 
not of us." And as Christ did not select angels for 
this work, because they would have been attended 
by a celestial glory that might have obscured the di- 
vine ; and as God will have his glory only shining 
forth, so he passed by all the shining hosts of heaven, 
and chose men — men like ourselves, with the same 
depraved natures, with the same proneness to sin; so, 
in order that the results might not be attributed to 
extra talent, nor to learning acquired in the schools, 
he selected the average man, and sent him forth, de- 
pending upon nothing but the presence and power of 
the truth. True, there were exceptions to this rule. 
Now and then a master mind appears, such as Saul of 
Tarsus; but still it was true that the work was car- 
ried forward by the earnest and persistent labors of 
the " average" man. So it has always been in the 
history of the Church and in the history ol Method- 
ism. Though Methodism had its birth in an institu- 
tion of learning, and Wesley, its great leader, was a 

* II. Corinthians, iv: 7. 



Preaching the Gospel. 187 

man of signal ability, yet it entered all classes of soci- 
ety only when it accepted the services and depended 
upon the efforts of its lay helpers. And so it will ever 
be. If the Gospel is to triumph everywhere, if this 
poor sin-cursed world is ever brought to Christ, it will 
not be through the labors of extraordinary men, for 
God has not made enough of these to meet the demand ; 
but the work will be done by those who do not possess 
ten, nor five talents, but to whom the Great Father 
has intrusted only two, or one. " No talent is too 
great, no genius is too brilliant, no attainments are 
too rich, for the work of preaching; but, thank God, 
average capacity can be trained into such an instru- 
ment as God, the Holy Ghost, will employ for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ." 

But there were some things possessed by these men 
which were, and which always will be, necessary to 
success : 

1. They were men of character. Jesus invited all 
to come to him, and when they came penitent and 
contrite, he received and blessed them all. None were 
so low, and miserable, and degraded, but Christ was 
willing to receive them into his spiritual kingdom. 
But when he came to select his apostles — his messen- 
gers — and to give them official positions as ministers 
and teachers, he had regard for character. He selected 
those whose characters were above reproach. " Char- 
acter is important to all men, but most of all to min- 
isters of the Gospel. Their great business is to reno- 
vate and improve the character of other men. Hence, 
it is indispensably necessary that they be examples 
of what they teach." Character may not, in these de- 
generate times, be essential to the politician, the 
scientist, the essayist; for, without this, one may be 
a learned lecturer on astronomy or chemistry ; may 
figure upon the platform before literary societies, and 
discourse most beautifully upon the beauties of Shaks- 
peare; or may uphold and endorse the opinions of 
Darwin and Company; but the Church and the world 
attach high importance to character in the pulpit. 
There must go out from the desk the impression that 



188 West Virginia Pulpit. 

the man is greater than anything he says. Even a 
heathen could see that one of the necessary qualifica- 
tions to a good orator, is that he be a good man. Em- 
phatically must this be the case with the Christian 
orator who would speak the truth as it is in Jesus, 
and thus win men to purity and goodness. 

^^^K^^ * % * % 

2. They were men of industry. They were not 
idlers. Not one of the twelve nor of their successors, 
was found by the Savior lounging in the market 
places among the idlers. They were chosen from among 
the world's busy workers. They were found by Christ 
mending their nets, or fishing — actively engaged in 
one or another vocation, and from these they were 
called to be his representatives. 

3. They were men of experience. I do not mean 
that they had that experience which comes with 
years of trials and afflictions ; they had that in time, 
but they had a personal religious experience. They 
were converted men. The Gospel itself had triumphed 
over them before they triumphed over the world. As 
Paul testifies in ii Corinthians : " He hath reconciled 
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed 
unto us the ministry of reconciliation." First, they 
had received this gracious experience of pardon and 
this joy of reconciliation, and from hearts thus full 
of divine love, and inflamed with love and pity for 
others, they spoke to the world — spoke with intense- 
nessof passionate concern, and thus persuaded men. 
And this personal experience is still necessary to 
success. A successful ministry must be a converted 
ministry. Study and learning will not answer as a 
substitute for this experience. Without this, we shall 
no more grasp the truth than the sparrow grasps the 
message passing through the electric wire oti which 
it perches. Without this, we may walk about Zion, and 
mark her bulwarks ; but unless we have this divine 
change wrought upon our own souls, we cannot enter 
into the temple of God. We can form no adequate 
conception of its glory, of the hallowed services which 
are rendered there to him that dwells between the 
cherubim, and can neither describe nor recommend 
them with success to others. 



Preaching the Gospel. 189 

4. They were called men. They were called, not 
merely to a life of faith in Jesus, but called specially 
to the work of the ministry. There were others among 
the followers of the blessed Master, who had character 
and experience and industry, and who, as faithfully as 
these, no doubt, discharged their duty in the respective 
stations in life in which it pleased God to place them ; 
but these men heard the voice of Jesus saying to them' 
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Is- 
it not superfluous for me to say, brethren, this per- 
sonal call is still essential to success ? It is the infal- 
lible testimony of God's Word that " no man taketh 
this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God." 
There must be this personal individual call. We must 
be able to say with Paul, " It pleased God to reveal 
his Son in me, that I might preach him among the 
heathen." This call must be nothing less than a deep 
and solemn conviction, and constraint of personal ob- 
ligation. A u woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," 
and our ministry can be effective only with such a call 
from God. 

5. They were endued men. With all this precious 
experience of divine grace in the forgiveness of their 
sins, with this personal call to the apostleship, some- 
thing was still lacking. They needed the enduement 
of power; and this, you remember, was promised them 
by the Savior. They were Christians before the day 
of Pentecost. They had the peace of sins forgiven, but 
yet they had not the enduement of power necessary to 
the accomplishment of the work assigned them. This 
enduement was promised by the Savior as he gave 
them his last commission. They were to tarry at Je- 
rusalem, until they were endued with power from on 
high. For this power they waited; and they received 
it on the day of Pentecost, in the city of Jerusalem. 
Paul claims to have received this enduement of power. 
Its effects are seen as men listen to his discourses, and 
he frequently refers to it in his epistles to the Churches, 
as he reminds them that he came to them not with en- 
ticing words of man's wisdom, but in "demonstration 
of the Spirit and in power." This power was nec- 
essary to them, and it is necessary to us. This power 



190 West Virginia Pulpit. 

which, as Bishop Simpson shows so clearly and forci- 
bly in his seventh Yale lecture, is not synonymous 
with conversion, nor with the call to the ministry — 
this power we must have if we would turn men to 
righteousness, if we would save souls from death. And 
this power, we are told, is not found in books, in the 
teaching of professors, nor in the curriculum of the 
schools. It is a gift directly from God — a power which 
Jesus sheds forth upon his ministers. It is not learning, 
nor rhetoric, nor logic, nor oratory, bu t it uses these for its 
one great end. It can burn and shine in the highest pe- 
riods of the most eloquent preacher, and it can thrill 
in the accents of the unlettered man. It can use all 
there is of a human being, and of his acquirements, 
for the glory of God, and for the advancement of his 
Church. This qualification the apostles had. They 
were endued men — endued with power from on high. 

Now, these called and endued men were to take this 
Gospel plan and go forth into the world, and in the 
presence of all to declare it — to present it to all as the 
grand panacea for all the woes and ills of the race. De- 
pending upon no gorgeous ritual, upon no enticing 
words of man's wisdom, upon neither their learning 
nor their eloquence — using all these, it is true, but tak- 
ing care not to so ornament the guide-post that ihe in- 
scription could not be seen; not to so cover the path to 
the Cross with the flowers of rhetoric that the humblest 
and most ignorant could not walk therein — they were 
to go and preach, remembering that Christ had prom- 
ised, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that 
believe. 

As we see this Gospel plan, and these called and en- 
dued men taking it everywhere, and adhering to the 
Master's orders, knowing nothing among them but 
Christ and him crucified, is it any wonder that success 
followed? Is it any wonder that Paul, as he writes to 
the Corinthians, could triumphantly and gratefully ex- 
claim: "Now, thanks be unto God which always caus- 
eth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the 
savor of his knowledge by us in every place "? The 
world might wonder at the results, but surely as we 
see the scheme, the agents and the power, can we not 



Pkeaching the Gospel. 191 

say that failure was impossible? That just so sure as 
the darkness is driven away by the rising sun, as cold 
is forced to flee upon the entrance of heat, so sure was 
it that, when the Sun of Righteousness should appear, 
the darkness would flee away; that, when Christ was 
lifted up upon the Cross, and presented to a lost world 
as dying for their sins, so sure was it that the hearts 
of men should be drawn unto him? 

And now, in conclusion, " like causes always pro- 
duce like effects." We have the same blessed Gos- 
pel, and the world still needs it ; and if we are faith- 
ful to declare it, the same blessed results must fol- 
low. For all this depends, as we have seen, not on 
genius, not on brilliancy of talent, but on simple, 
persevering, earnest fidelity to Christ our Lord. We 
must be careful to meet the conditions. We must 
take care of character ; we must seek for the endue- 
ment of power; we must give ourselves wholly to the 
work. * * * 

What a fearful responsibility is upon us; and what 
a glorious work is ours, to preach this Gospel — to hold 
up Christ to a dying world! Let us, then, so long as 
God shall give us life and strength — let us go pro- 
claiming this precious Gospel, remembering that he 
who called us has promised to go with us, and that God 
hath said, " My word shall not return unto me void." 
And although we may not have a great name among 
men, nor all of us rise to positions of prominence in 
the Church ; though we may not even be so useful as 
we desire, yet it is written that " he that converteth 
the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul 
from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." 
Though you may save only one soul, yet, under God, 
you shall plant that soul in the ether of glory, and, 
perchance, as it circles around the throne, it shall 
bear upon its bosom, as it wheels its eternal courses, 
your name to be read by the angels of light. And 
when life's toil is ended and our work on earth is 
done, the pearly gates shall open, all Heaven shall 
welcome us, and the Master himself shall say : " Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant ; enter into my 
joy and sit down on my throne." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



It has been truthfully said, that a boy possessed of ener- 
gy, application, and health, never fails to develop into a 
cultured, and generally, a useful man. Colleges and universi- 
ties do not educate. They only teach boys and young men 
methods and ways, by which they can, if properly applied, edu- 
cate themselves in subsequent life. The advantages, however, 
of a collegiate education are great. A boy who starts out in the 
world, without the aid of skilled teachers, such as are usually 
found in our universities and colleges, has a rough road to travel, 
and has to struggle much harder to obtain an education, and 
its natural sequence — success — than if he were favored with their 
assistance. 

One of the self-educated, self-made men, who is now in the 
front rank of the preachers of the West Virginia Conference of 
the M. E. Church, is the Rev. Winfield C. Snodgrass. He was 
born in Eitchie county, West Virginia, December 27, 1849. At 
the early age of five years, he began to attend school, and was 
immediately recognized as a studious boy — a reputation which 
has ever since followed him through life. From that time to 
the present, he has been steadily toiling in the great, broad field 
of letters, and the consequent result is, a cultured brain, and a 
large fund of useful knowledge. 

At twelve years of age, the subject of this sketch was converted, 
and united with the M. E. Church, and at once felt himself called 
to the ministry. When sixteen, he was licensed as an exhorter; 
and at seventeen he received his credentials as a local preacher. 
In July, 1867, he was employed as a supply, to assist Rev. Edgar 
B. Blundon on Middlebourne Circuit ; and in March, 1868, he 
was admitted into the West Virginia Conference. At his own 
request, in 1871, he was given work in the vicinity of the West 
Virginia University, in order that he might avail himself of the 
privileges of that institution. Here he remained for a consider- 
able period, attending the* University as a student, but not neg- 
lecting his ministerial duties. He selected his own studies, and 
pursued them with great energy. These were the only educa- 
tional advantages he ever enjoyed, outside of the district schools, 
and his methods of private study in his own home. 

Brother Snodgrass has filled a number of important appoint- 
ments, among which, I mention Chapline Street, Wheeling, Mor- 
gantown, and Parkersburg — three of the most important stations 



Rev. W. C. Snodgrass. 193 

in the Conference. God has blessed his ministry with a number 
of peculiarly powerful revivals ; and in church building, debt pay- 
ing, organizing and solidifying the Church, he has had a large 
measure of success. In these, and other various ways, he has 
accomplished a great amount of substantial good to the Church. 

For eleven years he preached from notes ; but his custom, the 
last four or five years, has been to leave his notes in his study, 
and preach without any helps of the kind. The change has been 
greatly to his advantage, as he now preaches with much more 
ease, freedom and force. His preaching — always clear and point- 
ed — is marked both by uniqueness and suggestiveness. Origin- 
ality and power of illustration, unite to give freshness and inter- 
est to his sermons. By the study of the best English authors, 
he has cultivated a literary taste, the legitimate outcome of which 
is a smooth, easy and forceful style of expression. In all his 
charges, he is a close student of the feelings, motives, and wants 
of his people ; and his success is largely due to the facility with 
which reading, travel and associations with men, are made to 
minister to ascertained human needs. 

Such preachers as Brother Snodgrass, are wanted by our best 
Churches throughout the domain of Methodism. 



SERMON XVI. 



REV. W. C. SNODGRASS. 



Theme:— GOD PRAISED BY HIS WORKS. 

Text : — "All thy works shall praise thee, 0, Lord." — Psalm 
cxlv: 10. 

In their survey of the universe the cynical man, 
and the infallible boy, see much to be improved. 
They search the untenanted wilderness, and the ex- 
panse of waters, for evidence to impeach the wisdom 
and benevolence of creation. With critical and solemn 
indignation they inquire, in the spirit and language 
of Iscariot, " To what purpose is this waste ?" Their 
doleful sentiment is voiced in Gray's familiar lines : 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 

The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

From this pessemistic complaint, let us turn to the 
other side of the question, and listen to one who, with 
vision clarified by faith and hope and love, sees the 
world as the obedient servitor of the God who made it : 

•' God hath his solitudes, unpeopled yet, 
Save by the quiet life of bird and flower, 
Where from the world's foundation he hath set 
The hiding of his power. 

" Year after year his rains make fresh and green 
Lone wastes of prairie, where, as daylight goes, 
Legions of light-hued blossoms, all unseen, 
Their beauteous petals close. 



God Praised by His Works. 195 

" Year after year unnumbered frosty leaves 
Expand and darken to their perfect prime, 
Each smallest growth its destiny achieves, 
In his appointed time. 

•• Amid the strong enclosures of the hills, 
Fixed by his word, immutable and calm, 
The murmuring river all the silence fills, 
With its unheeded psalm. 

" The smallest cloudlet, wrecked in distant storms, 
That wanders homeless through the summer skies, 
Is reckoned in his purposes and forms, 
One of his argosies. 

" Where the perpetual mountains patient wait, 
Girded with purity before his throne, 
Keeping from age to age inviolate 
Their everlasting crown, 

"Where the long gathering waves of ocean break, 
With ceaseless music o'er untrodden sands; 
From isles that day by day in silence wake. 
From earth's remotest lands, 

" The anthems of his praise shall uttered be, 
All works created on his name shall call, 
And laud and magnify his glorious name, 
For he hath pleasure in them all." 

The former view smites man with the paralysis of 
doubt, and issues in despair, defeat, decay and death. 
It knows no music but a dirge ; no poetry but an ele- 
gy ; no eloquence but complaint ; no greatness but in 
the past; no opportunity but to weep. Its God, if it 
have one, is a vanishing quantity, imperiled more 
and more by every scientific discovery, unable to sur- 
vive the genius of the age, and only spared immediate 
extinction by the scant courtesy of a few insolent 
blasphemers. 

The latter view is redolent with the perfume of flow- 
ers ; it puts into man's hand the wand of hope, and 
teaches him how to transform deserts into gardens and 
profligates into men ; its poetry is mingled pean and 
prophecy; it keeps pace with the march of intellect; 
it knows no antagonism with science ; the steam is 
its draught horse, and the lightning its postman; it 
sees life as one grand opportunity ; it is devout in the 
field, the laboratory, and the market place, as well as 
in the closet and the sanctuary ; it recognizes the 
Bible and the book of nature as coincident volumes, 
which together constitute the divine and only univer- 
sal encyclopedia ; its God is immanent in all nature ; 



196 West Virginia Pulpit. 

the majesty and mercy of his revelations grow upon 
those who devoutly study him in the natural world 
and in the world of man; the universe is his temple ; 
all his works praise him. 

God's works praise him when they accomplish the 
purpose of their creation. This truth may be illustra- 
ted from the works of men. A watch is intended to 
keep time. If it does this, it praises the watchmaker. 
If not, all its quaint and beautiful ornamentation only 
makes more conspicuous his failure in the essential 
part of his work. A mirror is intended to give back 
the image of objects brought before it. It praises its 
maker only when it casts a true reflection. A paint- 
ing praises the artist, when its harmonious blending 
of form and color realize his conception. The highest 
praise of the farmer's skill, is a bountiful harvest. 
Expensive equipment, bright and curiousimplements, 
splendid barns, and ceaseless activity, are but a mock 
of agriculture, if the season for reaping be not glad 
with the shout of the harvesters among the fruitful 
sheaves. So, any work praises him who performs it, 
only when it accomplishes his purpose. 

If we inquire what end God had in view, in creating 
the universe, various answers will be received. I shall 
here dwell upon but two. 

I. I shall not, I think, reflect upon the greatness 
nor the benevolence of the Divine character, in pre- 
suming to say that one of the ends in view, in the cre- 
ation, was God's own pleasure. We know that he has 
ever been willing to make sacrifices for his creatures. 
He "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life." But is God insensible 
to the beauties and harmonies of his own creation ? 
Does not the master painter see in his own work, beau- 
ties which the untaught eye never beholds and cannot 
discern? Does not the musical composer hear, in his 
pieces, a harmony of which rude, untaught ears must 
forever remain unconscious? Is the architect unmov- 
ed by the splendor of his own achievements? Is the 
orator blind to his own triumphs in the art of persua- 
sion? Can we venture a negative answer to the Psalm- 



God Praised by His Works. 197 

ist's question, "He that planted the — ear shall he not 
hear? He that formed the eye — shall he not see?"* 
John, in his Patmos vision, observed that the four and 
twenty elders in their worship of him that sat on the 
throne, said, "Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glo- 
ry and honor and power: for thou hast created all 
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were cre- 

ated."t 

I wish distinctly to record, that this view does not 
becloud with selfishness the glory of God's character. 
Rather would selfishness dictate the neglect of his low- 
ly creatures. Are they the waste and useless material 
of creation — the odds and ends from God's great work- 
shop? Is his only concern to get well rid of them? I 
"have not so learned Christ." Nothing is too small 
for his notice, too humble for his love, or too common- 
place to promote his pleasure. He "clothes the grass 
of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into 
the oven." He notes the fall of the sparrow, and counts 
the hairs of our heads. 

Such a God cannot be indifferent to the beauty 
which the microscope reveals to the delighted natural- 
ist, as he studies the petal of a flower, the vane of a 
feather, or the structure of hair. Utility there is 
in all these, but beauty as well. Man's delight in 
them grows with his knowledge of them. Surely 
he who knows them fully, finds, in their contem- 
plation, a pleasure which is heightened by the be- 
nevolence which overflows toward them. The vari- 
ous parts of God's creation are not to be studied by 
themselves, but in their relations to each other and to 
his universal plan. He who would make up an in- 
telligent judgment of a factory, must do something 
more than peer down the dark smokestack. He who 
would study a paper mill, must look further than the 
reeking vat where the pulp is reduced. The scraggy 
tree may have no beauty in itself, yet be necessary to 
the completeness and charm of the landscape. So the 
desert of sand, or the desert of water, the mountain 
wilderness, or the inaccessible crag, the noisy cataract, 

Psa. xciv; 9. fRev. iv: 11. 



198 West Virginia Pulpit. 

or the bellowing volcano, may furnish the ground of 
some one's foolish impeachment of Divine wisdom in 
the plan of the world ; but when these are studied in 
all their relations to the syste.n of which they form a 
part, they are found to blend with the universal har- 
mony which praises and pleases the Creator. 

II. Another of the ends manifestly had in view in 
the creation, was the development and education of the 
human race. Cast upon the world without philosophy, 
without civilization, without houses, without clothing, 
without utensils, without skill in handicraft, without 
the wisdom or the virtue born of experience, man had 
much to learn. 

The brief sojourn of the first pair in Eden, was 
like a bright dream and only emphasized the numer- 
ous and pressing needs of man after his sin. The un- 
known world which he faced, with all its inhospital- 
ity and opposition, was full of influences, helpful to 
the development of its new inhabitant. 

The universe is not self centered. All its wonders, 
and wealth, and beauty, and variety, and mystery, as 
well as all the results of human thought and labor, 
are, as a prophet of this age expresses it, " but the 
scaffolding wherewith to build a man." 

Fallible in judgment, yet sovereign to choose for 
himself; marring often, by his unskill, the fair and 
perfect plan of the Divine Architect, man yet builds 
ever, when he builds at all, along the lines of God's 
design. 

Toward the working out of this divine plan of man's 
life all the ministries of creation tend. Deny this 
and his place in the universe is utterly without rea- 
son or significance ; admit it and the subject is cleared 
of all its difficulties. 

1. By its invitations to conquest the universe is 
man's perpetual school-master. 

The fruit on the tree induced him to develop muscle 
and judgment in climbing among the branches. Fish 
and animals stimulated ingenuity and skill in meth- 
ods and implements of capture. The ascertained fer- 
tility of the soil, led to the clearing of the forest, and 
the pursuit of husbandry. The strength and fleetness 



God Praised by His Works. 199 

of the larger animals soon pointed out their utility 
as beasts of burden and travel. The severity of weath- 
er led to the construction of tents and houses, and the 
preparation and use of vegetable and mineral fuel, as 
well as the making and adaptation of clothing. The or- 
der of change in the seasons induced provident fore- 
cast and-accumulation. Physical suffering stimulated 
researches in the art of healing. The presence of rivers 
and seas led to rude, but improving navigation ; first, 
perhaps on a single log, or tree trunk, then upon a 
raft, afterwards in a canoe, or simple boat of skins; 
and finally in a craft embodying the idea of a ship, 
though still far removed from the iron leviathans 
that now fly in the force of the storm and court not 
the favor of fickle winds to bring them to their de- 
sired haven. 

The migrations and intercourse of men made roads, 
ferries and bridges a necessity, and the science cf civil 
engineering was begun. In the counting of domestic 
animals and the interchange of commodities, was laid 
the foundation of mathematical science. The stars 
kindled their beacon fires to guide benighted travelers. 
The moon was the periodical servitor of man. The 
sun was sky-king in the beginning, as now. What 
wonder at the prominence early given to astronomical 
study? True, astronomy was long but a system of rude 
guesses; but out of those guesses there grew a science, 
which condemns, as inaccurate, a once reliable tele- 
scope, whose sole fault is an infinitely small irregu- 
larity in the face of its object glass, resulting from 
the wiping off of unavoidable dust and soot. 

The desert, the mountain and the sea defied man's 
power. But who defied could long remain content? 
Adventure, discovery, migration, travel, commerce, 
each taught in the university of the world, and man 
went to school. There he developed courage, hardi- 
hood, genius, self-control — in a word, he found himself. 

I might speak at great length of the natural foun- 
dation and gradual developement of botany, geology, 
zoology, meterology and other sciences, by which hu- 
man faculties have been educated; but the thought is 
already transparently clear, that God manifestly de- 



200 West Virginia Pulpit. 

signed the universe for man's education, whatever 
other purposes and plans mav have entered into his 
creative thought. 

But the educational mission of the universe to man, 
is not confined to his physical and mental nature. 
The thoughts and actions growing out of his contact 
with physical objects and his ascertainment of phy- 
sical laws, bring him into peculiar relations with his 
fellow man, so that, whether he wishes or not, he is 
obliged to grapple with social and moral problems. No 
people, however uncivilized, has ever been long able 
to evade certain of the simpler of these social and 
moral questions. I do not assert the ability of man 
to work out these problems for himself. On the con- 
trary, I believe the only true and complete solu- 
tion ever reached, is when God's revelation, on these 
subjects, is accepted, as the sole and indispensable key 
to their complete elucidation. But what I say is, 
that the relation of the physical universe to its hu- 
man inhabitant is such as to start up social and 
moral questions which at once quicken the human 
faculties and emphasize the necessity of a super- 
human, super-scientific, super-cosmic revelation — a 
spiritual revelation from the eternal and Almighty 
God — a revelation that shall interpret to Pagan and 
Parsee and Mussulman, the moral blindness and hun- 
ger of which his religion is but the symptom and 
outcry, and then open his eyes to saving truth and 
graciously feed his soul. 

2. By its cheer and inspiration the universe has 
ministered to man's development, for real growth io 
not the natural child of energy and despair, but the 
legitimate offspring of wedded hope and love. 

Nature may seem remorseless and exacting, but she 
is just and stable. He who violates her laws, is pur- 
sued and punished; but he who obeys, finds them 
mighty for his protection and comfort. To the obedi- 
ent nature's messages are like the invitations to a wed- 
ding; but to the disobedient they are like the warrant 
for the arrest of a criminal. Thus a premium is put 
upon obedience to law. The violator — be he drunk- 
ard, glutton, lecher, sluggard, overworker, or what not 



God Praised by His Works. 201 

—may justly fear the day of physical as well as moral 
retribution. But the keeper of the law fears not. The 
very stability of nature's laws assures him, cheers him, 
inspires him. He sees in them protection, and helpful- 
ness, because he works along the line of their unerring 
operation, instead of contrary to it. His efforts are not 
paralyzed by fear, but quickened by a hope that 
mounts to assurance and claims an interest in all 
that exists. For him gravitation binds the universe 
together with cords, soft as silk, and strong as iron. 
For him the benevolent seasons march their ceaseless 
rounds. For him the flowers open their eyes, and the 
birds swell their morning and evening chorus. We 
know not how much we owe to these influences, of 
whose constant presence and ministry we scarcely 
think. To the prisoner in his solitary cell, and to the 
imprisoned invalid and his pale watcher, this state- 
ment has a meaning and emphasis which the free and 
strong can only know by the experience of isolation. 
Yet, in hours of loneliness, or despondency, or anger, 
have you not sometimes fled from human society to com- 
munion with the fields and the flowers, the trees and 
the birds, the brook and the mountain, or the stars and 
the sea? How they reproved your anger and selfish- 
ness, companied your lonely soul, bore away your de- 
spondency, and inspired you with a hopefulness which 
gave significance and value to your lite and work. 

Even Byron — proud sad, cynical, debauched, skep- 
tical though he was — could say 

" There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
There's a rapture on the lonely shore, 
There is society where none intrudes 
By the deep sea, and music in its roar." 

The solitary flower that grows in the desert, beyond 
the sight of other vegetation, may seem lost and un- 
designed. The skeptic may rail at our God, and sneer- 
ingly ask what purpose it can serve there. But a weary, 
famishing and disheartened traveler, who has given 
up to die, sees it and says, " If God cares for this little 
flower, he will care for me." One flower less, and 
Mungo Park had slept forever in the sands of the Afri- 
can desert. Did not that flower praise its Creator by 
saving a man? How many of you have done as much? 
14 



202 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Thus do natural objects — both animate and inani- 
mate — by Divine appointment speak to us. Many of us 
feel what we are not gifted to express. William Cullen 
Bryant was not the first person to learn an inspiring 
lesson from a "water-fowl," on its long sky-voyage be- 
tween distant zones. On many a heart deeply had 
sunk the lesson it had taught, but to him was given 
the utterance of what others mutely felt, 

" There is a power whose care 
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,— 
The desert and illimitable air,— 
Lone wandering, but not lost. 
He who, from zone to zone, 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight 
In the long way that I must tread alone, 
Will lead my steps aright." 

These truths suggest certain practical thoughts, 
which press forward for expression. 

1. If these unthinking objects minister acceptable 
praise to their Maker, what ministry have we? Shall 
the unwritten music of the forest swell the praises 
of the Creator, and angel-voiced man stand stupidly 
silent in the presence of his God? Shall the mind- 
less wind find coherent and orderly speech, and we, 
with intellect almost divine, forget the Father from 
whom is inherited all that differences us from un- 
reasoning beasts, or from the lifeless clods that are 
turned afield by the gleaming plowshare? Shall na- 
ture glorify God by helping to build a man, and we 
play priest and Levite with a fallen human being, be- 
cause, forsooth, he does not belong to our sect? Shall 
nature feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and we 
be indifferent to the cry of distress? Shall a flower 
save a man's life, and we care nothing for his eternal 
destiny? Shall the coral insect build for the long- 
coming future, and we build only for a lifetime? 

2. The power to do is glorified by doing. God's 
power to create the universe was glorified by so doing. 
Dwelling alone for ten thousand millenniums could 
not have brought him glory equal to one day of the 
world. His glory is not abstract power ; that is noth- 
ing; but power utilized — benevolently employed — 
this is the glory and crown of our Lord. We praise 



God Praised by His Works. 203 

not the Christ who could pity, eould teach, could die, 
could save ; but the Christ who did pity, did teach, did 
die, does save. So, w ith men, power is only glorified 
by its use. You boast your power to abstain from ar- 
dent spirits, but do you do it ? You ask to be honored 
because you say you can lead a virtuous life, but do 
you do so? You have power to keep from profanity, 
but do you use that power ? You are able, you say, to 
govern your tongue, but do you keep it from slander 
and gossip, and lying, and filthy speech ? You aver 
your ability to put to the blush many professing Chris- 
tians, by leading a life of superior moral excellence, 
but do you do it ? Boasting is excluded until power to 
do has been demonstrated by doing. Do you wish the 
world to praise you ? Leave off telling what you can 
do, and actually do something which the world needs 
to have done. It will not withhold the palm branch, or 
the laurel, or the gold, or the applause. 

Do you wish to obtain the praise of Almighty God? 
Cease vaunting yourself in his sight. Use your 
boasted power in his service. Open your purse, your 
hand, your eye, your ear, your lips, your heart. Let 
the full measure of their power act in every open 
field. You will not lack crown or kingdom or plaudit, 
for "an entrance shall be ministered unto you abund- 
antly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and 
Savior, Jesus Christ." 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



One of the foremost young preachers of the West Virginia Con- 
ference is George C. Wilding. He was born July 17, 1846, 
near the town of Radnor, in Radnorshire, South Wales. In 
May 1851, he came with his parents to America, and settled in 
Limetown, now Coal Bluff, Washington county, Pennsylvania. 
About two miles from the village, in a little old log school house, 
near the banks of the historic Monongahela, young Wilding first 
attended school. Up a little valley above the village, there was 
a small Sabbath School held regularly in a humble stone church. 
It was here the subject of this sketch entered the Sabbath School 
army. While attending this "Lord's day" school, when about 
eight years of age, he received his first religious impressions. 

While at Coal Bluff he had a narrow escape from an awful 
death. Wandering among the coke ovens, he accidentally fell 
into a coke furnace. Had it not been for almost instant aid be- 
ing rendered, he would have burned to death. As it was, his 
clothes, hands and face were badly scorched. 

When about seven years of age, he, with his parents, visited 
the city of Pittsburgh. Though nearly thirty years ago, he says 
he distinctly remembers the emotions of rapture which filled his 
heart and mind as he, for the first time, looked upon this grand 
city of forges, mills and tall spires. It was the most wonderful 
exhibit of grand sights he had ever seen — surpassing in every 
respect, the expectant dreams of his childhood. He has fre- 
quently seen it since, but it is altogether a different city. Twen- 
ty years associations with a busy world, bring with them many 
and varied changes. The step from youth to manhood covers 
strange ground, and embraces those scenes and events of life 
which can never be forgotten. Not so when the meridian is 
reached, and the sun is receding towards the west. Then, time 
is fleeting, and things we see and hear slip away from us as a 
dream. 

The Wilding family moved from Pennsylvania to Mason coun- 
ty, West Virginia, in July 1855. From his Mason county home, 
Bro. Wilding entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in March 1872. Of some of his early associations at Ma- 
son City, Hartford and Xew Haven, I allow Bro. Wilding to 
speak for himself : " Among my school teachers in Mason county 
I remember with grateful emotions, Sidne} T M. Campbell, Rev. 
John W. Perry, of the United Brethren Church, Rev. B. Howell, 
Daniel Duskey and W. H. L. Rine. When twenty years of age, 



Rev. George C. Wilding. 205 

I obtained the consent of my father to go to Marietta College for 
a brief season, and spent a portion of two years there. I entered 
the employment of Geo. W. Moredock, Esq., of Hartford City, 
when a boy of ten years, and continued therein until I was past 
twenty-five. For some years I worked in the mines ; aided in 
building the salt furnace at New Haven — having the exalted po- 
sition of bringing water for the thirsty men, carrying the tools of 
the stone masons to the blacksmith ship and back, and occasion- 
ally driving oxen and running an engine. In 1863 I entered the 
store of the Hartford City Coal and Salt Company, where I re- 
mained for a number of years. In 1868 1 took charge of the Compa- 
ny store at New Haven. From 1865 to 1872, I was bookkeeper 
for the Union Salt Company at New Haven, in addition to work- 
ing in the store. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Moredock. He 
has done a great deal for me, as well as for my good father. Un- 
der his inspirations I felt the first strong uprisings of ambition, 
and therefore longed for an education. * * * * * 
I was converted in the little old school house, on the hillside, in 
New Haven, January 28, 1866, at a meeting conducted by Rev. 
Jacob Bachtel, of the United Brethren Church. I united with 
this church and remained therein until January 1867, when I 
joined theM. E. Church, under the pastorate of Rev. E. W. Ryan, 
now the Presiding Elder of Wheeling District. In my early 
relations with the M. E. Church I had a model class leader 
and friend in Robt. Robinson, who continued as leader up to the 
time I joined the conference. My home in the church at New 
Haven, for five years, was very pleasant. I often think of our 
precious class meetings and prayer meetings, our cheery Sabbath 
School and instructive preaching services. I remember all my 
pastors with respect and veneration, and they fully deserve both. 
They were Revs. E. W. Ryan, J. M. Powell, D. H. K. Dix, and 
J. B. Feather. About this time I took an active part in temper- 
ance work, in the order of Good Templars, and was Grand Secre- 
tary of the State for one term — 1871-2. 

"In March 1872, I arranged to attend the session of the West 
Virginia Conference, and enter the regular ministry, but was pre- 
vented, on account of business engagements, from doing so. I 
however, was appointed by Presiding Elder Powell, to take 
charge of the Nicholas Circuit." 

It was upon this Circuit that Bro. Wilding entered upon the 
duties of a very active and useful life. His first year was a great 
success. Prior to this time, he had never ridden twenty miles 
on horseback. Now he was in his saddle almost constantly. I 
have frequently heard him say that he used to have, while rid- 
ing through the mountains of Nicholas, visions of horses and 
saddles as vivid as those of a heavenly kind unveiled to John on 
Patmos. But this was a part of his ministerial training. "Brush 
College" — as our mountain Circuits are termed — is in many re- 
spects, as important a training as one can get at a theological 
seminary. During this year, our "circuit rider" held nine pro- 
tracted meetings, received one hundred and fifty probationers into 



206 Rfiv. George C. Wilding. 

the Church, and in the meantime wrote nine hundred letters as 
Grand Secretary of the Good Templar organization. 

Brother Wilding joined the West Virginia Conference at Guy- 
andotte in March 1873, and was sent to Point Pleasant Circuit, 
where he remained three years. Under his pastoral care, the 
churches were repaired, a new parsonage was erected, and the mem- 
bership of the Circuit more than doubled. His next appoint- 
ment was North Street Station, Wheeling, where he also remain- 
ed three years. During the term, the Church had two revivals, 
resulting in one hundred and fifty-five conversions. In October, 
1878, he was stationed at Thompson Church, Wheeling Island, 
where he remained two years. Under his ministry one hundred 
and ten souls were converted and added to this Church. From 
Wheeling Island he was sent to Parkersburg Station, next to 
Fourth Street, Wheeling, the most important station in the Con- 
ference. At the close of this pastorate, in October 1881, he 
was made Presiding Elder of Parkersburg District, which is his 
present field of labor. 

At the October, 1878, session of Conference, held at Parkers- 
burg, Bro. Wilding was elected Conference Secretary, and is 
still in that important office, notwithstanding the fact that he is 
a Presiding Elder. It is a rare compliment for a secretary to be 
continued after he is made a Presiding Elder; but with one ac- 
cord Brother W. was re-elected to this important station. The 
writer has heard more than one of our Bishops say, that he is 
one of the most efficient secretaries in the entire Methodist con- 
nection — I am quite sure that I never was acquainted with a 
better one. 

Bro. Wilding's has been a busy life. He possesses unusual 
energy, and is conscientious in all his work. He ranks high as 
a minister of the Word, and has already left his impress upon 
the hills and valleys of his adopted State. His life, thus far, has 
been a marked success, and his future is bright with promise. 



SERMON XVII 



BY 



REV. GEORGE C. WILDING, P.E. 



Theme :— SOUL SATISFACTION. 

Text : — They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of 
thy house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy 
pleasures. — Psalm xxxvi: 8. 

The theme of this verse of scripture is the spiritual 
communion of human souls with God, their divine 
maker. The teachings are that such communion of 
the soul with God is eminently and abundantly satis- 
factory in its character and extent. In order to mag- 
nify the theme, and to illume the teachings of the 
text, the author of this Psalm resorts to the favorite 
Oriental method of teaching, namely, the figurative or 
pictorial. At least three quite distinct and widely 
varying metaphors adorn and beautify these brief lines 
of Scripture. 

The first metaphor is that of a house, in the sense 
of a tenement, a dwelling, a home. About every well 
ordered household, every model home, we naturally 
group the ideas of shelter, protection, rest, com- 
fort, food and friends. The figure implies that a 
soul in communion with God possesses and enjoys in 
a spiritual sense, all of the blessings that are repre- 
sented by these temporal enjoyments of domestic life. 

The second metaphor is that of a field. There has 
been a protracted drouth, and the earth is dry, dusty 
and parched, under the fierce glare of an Eastern sun. 
Now, there comes a shower, gentle at first, but rapidly 



208 West Virginia Pulpit. 

increasing in volume, and soon the earth is refreshed, 
drenched, saturated. And to demonstrate the con- 
tinuance of this moisture, a stream of water is rep- 
resented as flowing through the midst of the field. 
The soul outside the pale of communion, is the field 
suffering the rigors of drouth ; the soul in communion 
with God, is the field refreshed by showers of rain 
and watered by the flowing stream. 

The third metaphor is that of a temple, a sanctu- 
ary, a church. In fancy we observe the devout saint 
entering the earthly courts of the Heavenly King. 
We notice the eye flash, the bosom heave, and the face 
glow, as he worships God in his house, in fervent 
prayer and swelling praise ; forgetting the feverish 
world outside those sacred walls, with all of its cares, 
burdens and sorrows. As the child of God is blest in 
the service of the earthly sanctuary, so, the soul in 
communion with God, is dwelling continually in the 
spiritual temple, and is steadfastly feasting on heav- 
enly manna, the rarest, choicest spiritual food. 

It may be profitable, now, to leave metaphor and 
figure far behind us, and push forward to the atten- 
tive study of this theme and its teachings. 

I. WE ARE SO CONSTITUTED, IN OUR COMPLEX NATURE, 
THAT WE INSTINCTIVELY CRAVE WHAT IS NECESSARY 
FOR OUR ENJOYMENT AND SATISFACTION. 

Perhaps we should here stop long enough to distin- 
guish between what may be termed proper and im- 
proper desires or longings. Some of our cravings 
are, in themselves, proper, Others are, in themselves, 
improper; while others, still, are proper inside of cer- 
tain limits or restrictions, and improper outside of 
these lines of limitation. We may safely conclude 
that all of our cravings, which, if fully gratified, would 
injure us, or any other human being are improper ; 
and that all of our cravings, which, if entirely satis- 
fied, would not harm us, or any other person — but, 
on the contrary, would benefit ourselves, or others, or 
both — are proper and pure in their character. 

It should be a matter of gratitude, that in this era 
of Christian civilization, we have but little difficulty 



Soul Satisfaction. 209 

in determining between cravings which are pure and 
proper, and cravings which are impure and improper. 

As human beings, we have a many-sided nature, or 
a nature subdivided into many compartments, or par- 
titioned off into a number of distinct rooms : or to em- 
ploy another figure, we have a being composed of a 
number of distinct and peculiar personalities. And 
in each of these departments there are characteristic 
cravings, of a pure nature, and each personality has 
a longing or hungering of its own. 

In the physical personality of our being, if that 
physical life be normal or healthy, there will be at 
intervals — more or less stated or regular — a hungering 
for material food. This is undoubtedly a real hunger, 
and nothing but food will satisfy it. Suppose you es- 
cort a famishing man through the halls of a famous 
art gallery, and let him gaze upon rare paintings of 
luscious fruits and succulent vegetables, and nutri- 
tious meats, so true to nature that we are surprised 
that they do not drop from the canvas, and what is 
the result? Is his hunger appeased ? Nay, but rather 
heightened. Take him into the epicurean dining 
hall of a Delmonico; lead him to the head of the 
great tables freighted heavily with nutritious food 
and toothsome delicacies. Have him feast his eyes 
on the tempting vision. Now, is his hunger allayed 
or even quieted ? On the contrary, it is grown raven- 
ous and unmanageable. Paintings and visions of food 
will not gratify the craving of a hungry man. Noth- 
ing but substantial, palpable, material food will satis- 
fy this hunger. When this craving does not return 
for a considerable space of time, the body pines, fades 
away and death ensues. 

In the social department of our being, if the social 
nature is normal and active, there will be developed 
an instinctive craving for society — for intercourse 
with kindred souls, congenial spirits. This hunger 
is as real as the first, and will not be satisfied with 
the shadow for the substance. The rules of good so- 
ciety, as printed in books of etiquette, may be studied 
for days together; vast crowds of strangers may be 
met on the street, at any or every hour of the day j 



210 West Virginia Pulpit. 

happy groups of people may be observed in the cheer- 
ful homes which we pass in our walks ; but these are 
only pictures of society to us. The hunger for society 
still remains, and nothing but a congenial group, in 
which we are central figures, will satisfy it. When 
this craving dies, or is crushed to earth, we have the 
nunnery or monastery, the nun and monk — terms so 
distasteful to true Americans, and clustering about an 
idea so antagonistic to true social life. 

In the intellectual personality, if the intellect be 
healthy and vigorous, there is a craving for informa- 
tion or knowledge of some character. This also is a 
real hunger. A simple sight of the book of knowl- 
edge, to admire the symmetry of its proportions, or 
the beauty of its superb binding, or to read its great 
title, would not satisfy the craving of the mind for 
wisdom. No; the lids of the vast volume must be 
opened, and the rich treasures it contains spread be- 
fore the intellect, that it may feast thereon. When 
this mind hunger is entirely gone, a mental death 
soon takes place. 

The spiritual man in our being, if normal and 
growthful, also craves for food, hungers for nourish- 
ment — for satisfaction. This hunger, as truly as either 
of the others, is a real hunger that nothing but food 
will satisfy. Pictures of food, such as moralism or 
formalism, or ritualism will not appease that hun- 
ger. The shell or husk, that enclosed the food, will 
not do instead of the food itself. None of the modern 
forms of religion, that omit or exclude a sympathizing 
Savior, will satisfy a hungering soul. When this hun- 
ger perishes, spiritual death soon occurs. 

n. this instinctive hunger is an argument for, 

AND A PROPHECY OF, THE EXISTENCE OF AN ABUND- 
ANT SUPPLY. 

In the first mentioned three of these realms, the 
physical, the social and the intellectual, this argu- 
ment is demonstrated, and this prophecy is fulfilled. 
There is the hunger for food and the supply of food to 
match it ; there is the longing for congenial society, 
and the supply is found in the cheerful circle of friends 



Soul Satisfaction. 211 

there is the craving for mental nutriment, and the 
supply is furnished by the school, the book, the ora- 
tor, and nature. 

Now, we are left with the craving in the highest 
domain of all — the spiritual. How is it to be ap- 
peased ? Is there anywhere a supply ? 

The proof of this proposition, in the employment 
of reason alone, cannot be carried to the lofty altitude 
of demonstration; but it may be made to approxi- 
mate very closely to its summit. In the use and ar- 
rangement of these arguments, we demonstrate the 
strongest probability of the existence of this supply 
to gratify the hunger of the soul. The line of rea- 
soning is briefly this : 

1. The law of adaptation or fitness. In so far as we 
have studied the construction of this world, and all 
pertaining to its government, there are plainly visi- 
ble marks of intelligent design ; everything seems 
made for a purpose, a definite end ; all is closely 
jointed, and articulates distinctly. There are no miss- 
ing links here. That a wise Creator should blunder 
on the tallest plane of his creation is scarcely reason- 
able. How great a blunder would it be to create this 
soul-hunger and leave it unsupplied. 

2. The character of God. He is represented in the 
Bible as a being of tenderness, sympathy and affec- 
tion, and, withal, deeply interested in the progress 
and welfare of man. Does not the inspired Psalmist 
say, " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear him."* To create this 
soul hunger, and then not provide for its supply,would 
be bitter mockery. God cannot mock his creatures ! 

3. God's care for animal and vegetable life. In the 
domain of animated nature, God, thoughtfully and 
kindly, provides abundant supplies of food and drink. 
All forms of animal life exist where the food adapted 
to their needs and wants is found in greatest abund- 
ance ; and they are provided with a climate suited to 
their natures and structures ; they are furnished with 
coats of scales or fur or feathers, that adapt them 
to their spheres ; and they are so formed as to fit them 

♦Psalm ciii:13. 



212 West Virginia Pulpit. 

for securing and eating their food. Fish are so con- 
structed as to fit them ^for deep or shallow water, ac- 
cording to the location of their home. In the world 
of vegetable life, God provides the elements of life 
and growth — namely: seed, soil, atmosphere, sun- 
shine, dew, rain, storms and darkness. Plants are 
adapted to their surroundings, and to the use for 
which they are intended. Is animal life, or vegetable 
life, comparable for a moment with soul life ? 

4. The instinct of animals. Among God's humbler 
creatures, some are possessed of remarkable instincts. 
There is the instinct in birds that leads them to make 
their migratory flights to a warmer clime. They have 
an instinct that calls for a sunny south, and God has 
provided the sunny south. The dumb brute that is 
famishing for food, or dying of thirst, has an instinct 
that drives it forth for food and drink, and God has 
provided the supply whither it goes. The beast that 
is diseased has an instinct that prompts it to seek a 
remedy, and God has provided that remedy. Would 
God honor that instinct in animals and mock the in- 
stinct in man? 

5. The principle in the practice of medicine, that the 
world contains, somewhere, in some form, a remedy 
for every disease that man is afflicted with. The 
mute cry of suffering bodies is met by the Creator with 
a cure for their ills. Would this good Being be more 
deeply moved by the cry of a suffering body than by 
the cry of a hungering soul? 

6. The conduct of man. Mankind instinctively act as 
though they felt within them that the soul could be sat- 
isfied. We see them constantly seeking to satisfy this 
soul hunger on bread that turns to ashes on their lips; 
we behold them endeavoring to quench soul-thirst at 
fountains that only intensify it. They are following 
an instinct blindly and partially, not wisely or fully. 
May not that instinct, yearning for satisfaction, wise- 
ly followed, yet lead them to the true source of supply? 

When we step out of the realm of simple reason into 
the domain of revelation, we leave all uncertainties 
behind us. We tread firm ground. We have a "thus 
saith the Lord," for our foundation ; and we affirm, 



Soul Satisfaction. 213 

with confidence, that the soul-hunger of humanity is 
comprehended, appreciated and provided for by the All 
Father. This hunger is acknowledged as a real ex- 
perience, in the following intense exclamation of the 
Psalmist: "0, God, thou art my God ; early will I seek 
thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth 
for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water 
is.* In that sweetest of sermons, by that Prince of 
preachers — the famed sermon on the mount — Jesus 
Christ promised to satisfy this hunger, in this truly 
remarkable language: "Blessed are they which do 
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall 
be filled. ''f On another occasion Christ affirmed: "I 
am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never 
hunger : and he that believeth on me shall never 
thirst.J The Psalmist speaks of this great satisfac- 
tion as an accomplished fact: "For he satsfieth the 
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with good- 
ness.'^ How thankful should humanity be for the 
revealed Word of God ! 

III. IF WE HONESTLY AND FAITHFULLY FOLLOW THE 
LEADINGS OF THESE INSTINCTIVE HUNGERINGS, WE 
SHALL REACH THE WISELY PROVIDED SUPPLY. 

God not only, wisely and kindly, provides the sup- 
ply to appease all proper desires, but he has created 
within us an instinct, that is well nigh infallible, in 
leading us to the source of this supply. This may be 
illustrated by the migratory instincts of birds, refer- 
red to a few moments since. They instinctively yearn 
for a southland, and, implicitly following that instinct, 
it directs them to that southland. It is noticeable, 
again, in the instinct of direction, with which animals 
are endowed, and, following the impulse of that in- 
stinct, it leads them to the desired point in their jour- 
neyings. When animals are sick they have an in- 
stinct that there is a remedy, and following that in- 
stinct, they find the desired remedy. These illustra- 
tions could be greatly multiplied were it necessary. 

In the physical department of our being we hun- 
gered for food, and, following that instinct of hunger, 
we were speedily directed to a supply of that which 

• : Psalm lxiii : 1. fMatthew v : 6. X John vi : 35. §Psalm cvii : 9. 



214 West Virginia Pulpit. 

we most needed. The instincts of a hungry man will 
lead him infallibly to food. 

In the social department of our being we had a long- 
ing desire for pleasant and agreeable society, and, our 
instinctive yearnings led us into the midst of such so- 
ciety, and we were satisfied. 

In the mental department of our being we had con- 
stant cravings for knowledge, and the instinct of the 
mind carried it to the fountain of learning, and the 
burning thirst was swiftly allayed. 

Reasoning by analogy, would it not seem exceeding- 
ly reasonable that instinct would be as reliable in the 
upper realm of our being as in these lower depart- 
ments? That if we were safely guided by instinct in the 
physical, the social and the intellectual departments 
of our being, we would be fully as safely guided by 
the higher instincts of the soul. If these lower in- 
stincts are so wonderfully honored by the Almighty 
One, we may rest assured that these mute, unuttera- 
ble yearnings of the soul for rest, peace, comfort — in 
a word, satisfaction — if faithfully followed, would most 
certainly lead us to the divinely provided supply. 

There is, however, this difference between satisfy- 
ing this hunger, and those referred to in the lower de- 
partments of our being : the physical, the social and 
the mental cravings may be fully satisfied on the ordi- 
nary plane of human life — or, at any rate, on a mod- 
erately elevated plane of human life. But man has 
demonstrated that this hunger of the soul cannot be 
appeased on the summit of the loftiest altitudes of hu- 
man life. All of life's earthly avenues have been- 
trodden in vain, and man has returned to the point of 
beginning, as thoroughly unsatisfied as when he en- 
tered them. 

Let us now add revelation to reason, and contem- 
plate a soul that is fairly well educated in the primary 
principles of salvation : a soul that comprehends its 
condition fully — the greatness of its guilt, its vast 
moral distance from God, the enormity of its peril, the 
importance of reconciliation with its Maker, and the 
advantages of communion with God. Enlightened by 
the Book, touched by the Spirit, there springs up with- 



Soul Satisfaction. 215 

in this soul an instinctive hunger for rest — for satifac- 
tion — for God. If all false shame is extinguished, and 
all evil suggestions and temptations are brushed aside, 
and the true interests of the soul studied, this instinct 
of the soul will be obeyed. Following confidently 
this instinctive craving, the soul goes by and beyond 
self and human friends ; sweeps past the world, and 
even the human church ; it cannot be satisfied on pleas- 
ure, indulgence, friendship, moralism, formalism, rit- 
ualism, or anything strictly earthly or human. This 
spiritual instinct directs it swiftly and surely to the 
feet of the Holy One. The conditions of salvation are 
met — complied with ; and the trembling penitent is 
fully forgiven, the soul purified, the tears all kissed 
away, and the returned and welcomed prodigal is 
pressed closely to the tender bosom of the forgiving 
Father. The soul has been directed, by its infallible 
instinct, to the divine source of supply, and is restful 
and happy in the glow of its discovery. 

IV. THE SOUL THAT HAS FOUND THIS SOURCE OF DIVINE 
SUPPLY IS ABUNDANTLY SATISFIED THEREWITH, AND 
DOES NOT GO ELSEWHERE SEEKING SATISFACTION. 

When I speak of being abundantly satisfied when our 
spiritual instinct leads us to God, I do not mean to 
imply that this satisfaction necessarily carries with it 
the idea of joyous demonstration, or physical fervor, or 
delicious ecstacies, or soft, dreamy raptures. These may 
or may not attend the soul's discovery of God. But 
they are not unusual appendages, and frequently 
are attendant emotions, of that wondrous transition ; 
but, not properly, elements of the soul's satisfaction. 
There are many phases of Christian experience at this 
period of the new life. Suppose we append a few spec- 
imens. Here is one of the rapturous, ecstatic sort, writ- 
ten by Charles Wesley, full one hundred years ago : 

" O, the rapturous height 
Of that holy delight, 

Which I felt in the life-giving blood ! 
Of my Savior possessed, 
I was perfectly blessed, 
As if filled with the fullness of God." 



216 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Here is one expressing quiet satisfaction, written by 
Philip Doddridge, more than one hundred and fifty 
years ago : 

'• Now rest, my long divided heart ; 
Fixed on this "blissful centre, rest ; 
Nor ever from thy Lord depart, 
With him of every good possessed." 

Let one more suffice. This also was written by 
Charles Wesley, and expresses a sense of safety and 
confidence : 

" My God is reconciled ; 

His pardoning voice I hear ; 
He owns me for his child ; 

I can no longer fear ; 
With confidence I now draw nigh, 
And ' Father, Abba Father,' cry." 

How truly has Paul expressed it : " Now, there are 
diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there 
are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the 
same God which worketh all in all."* 

In the lower realms of our complex being we may 
not only have enough to satisfy us, but more than 
enough ; we may not only attain to satisfaction, but 
to satiety. When we are ravenously hungry, we may 
not only eat till our hunger is fully appeased, but un- 
til we are surfeited with food. We may live so con- 
stantly in society, and so overdo social life, as to grow 
tired of it, and long for solitude. We may so feast 
upon knowledge that the brain tires, the nerves be- 
come unstrung, the blood grows turgid, and the sys- 
tem relaxes ; so that we, weary of books, and long 
for the fresh air, the leafy forests, the green fields 
and the bright sunlight. But soul hunger is on a 
higher plane. It is a paradox. We are satisfied and 
yet constantly hungering. A surfeit or satiety, in 
this realm, is an impossibility. Bernard of Clair- 
vaux beautifully expressed this thought, in a hymn 
written more than eight hundred years ago : 

" Insatiate to this spring I fly ; 
I drink and yet am ever dry ; 
Ah ! who against thy charms is proof? 
Ah! who that loves, can love enough?" 

Having found satisfaction in Christ does not im- 
ply, much less teach, the doctrine that we are to for- 

*I. Corinthians, xii:4-6. 



Soul Satisfaction. 217 

sake all the ordinary walks oi human life, for the 
purpose of devoting ourselves and our time to the con- 
templation and service of Christ. Being satisfied with 
Christ we do not retire from domestic life, nor from con- 
genial society, nor from business activities, nor from 
literary pursuits, nor from educational enterprises, 
nor from philanthropic efforts, nor from reform move- 
ments. No; thank God, no! We take Christ into 
our hearts, and being satisfied in him, and with him, 
we are better fitted to enter all of these spheres just 
mentioned, and all the other avenues of life that 
are honorable and pure, than we were before ; and all 
the callings of secular life are hallowed, and made sa- 
cred by taking Christ into them. 

But, having found complete satisfaction in Christ, 
we have been delivered from that sickly, morbid crav- 
ing for sinful pleasures and worldly amusements, that 
has so constantly controlled us hitherto. Now, we are 
restful, quiet, contented and satisfied. What the soul 
has been seeking, hither and thither, it has found at 
last in Christ, and seeks no farther in other directions. 

It may be asserted that not all professed Christians do 
possess this sense of satisfaction that Christ promises, 
and that the Christian may enjoy; and that some 
Christians frequently, indeed almost constantly, may 
be found on the level of the world, seeking pleasure 
where worldings seek it. I presume this is measurably 
true — slightly exaggerated, perhaps — but still it must 
be admitted to be true — too true, and as sad as it is 
true. 

Communion with God, in its character is voluntary, 
in so far as we are concerned. This communion was 
entered into of our own free, unfettered choice; we 
may withdraw at our own untrammeled volition. 
There is nothing compulsory about its continuance. 

While the communion is maintained the satisfac- 
tion abides. When the communion is broken, in- 
stantly the satisfaction ceases to flow, and the soul 
is filled with disquiet and unrest, and becomes ill at 
ease. ^ Then, in this dissatisfied state, comes that 
morbid, abnormal longing for the vanities, frivolities, 

15 



218 West Virginia Pulpit. 

pleasures and amusements of the world, that is occa- 
sionally observed among professed Christians. 

To see followers of our Lord Jesus Christ in the ball 
room, the opera, the theatre or the circus, or at wine 
parties, or in saloons, or on Sabbath excursions, is, in 
itself, always an unpleasant spectacle to one who 
magnifies the sacredness of a Christion life. But, en- 
gaging openly in these sinful pleasures is not so sad a 
thing as the state of heart that drives them into these 
channels. In the majority of such instances, these 
professed Christians are guilty of apostacy before they 
become guilty of dancing, drinking aud theatre go- 
ing. The gravest charge is not that they disgrace the 
Church of Christ by mingling with the world in its 
sinful pleasures, but that " They crucify to themselves 
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."* 

If, on the other hand, the communion with (rod is 
maintained inviolate, the satisfaction of soul abides 
in its abundance, and all sinful pleasures and im- 
proper amusements are cheerfully eschewed — freely 
given up for the sake of him, " Who gave himself for 
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present 
evil world." 

"Hebrews vi: 6. 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



Eev. John Rhey Thompson, A. M., was born in Carrollton, 
Ohio, March, 14th, 1852. He attended the district school, the 
Academy of the town, the Rural Seminary at Harlem Springs, 
Ohio, and graduated from Mount Union College, at Alliance, 
Ohio, as Bachelor of Arts, in 1871. He therefore entered upon 
the duties and realities of life with a cultured 'mind ; his scythe 
was keenly ground, and he has since then been swinging it most 
successfully in the cause of truth. 

Brother Thompson was converted under the labors of Rev. J. 
R Roller, and united with the M. E. Church, February 6, 1868. 
He entered the Pittsburgh Conference in 1871, immediately after 
his graduation from college, and remained in it two years. In 
1873, he was transferred to the West Virginia Conference, and 
stationed at Chapline Street M. E. Church, Wheeling. He re- 
mained in this station three years, and in 1876, was stationed at 
Morgantown, the seat of the West Virginia University. After 
preaching at Morgantown nearly a year, in January, 1877, he 
was elected President of the West Virginia University, which 
office he held four years. 

The position came to him unsought, and he discharged the 
duties connected with it, in the most acceptable manner. 
Though less than twenty-five years of age when called to pre- 
side over the State's highest school of learning, he was, nev- 
ertheless, a ripe scholar, and seemed to possess those other req- 
uisites of character necessary to manage an institution of this 
character. From the day he took charge of the University, it 
seemed to start anew, and up to the close of his term as Presi- 
dent, its growth was continuous — indeed, unprecedented. Dur- 
ing the four years of Bro. Thompson's Presidency, the number of 
students at the University more than doubled. He delivered ad- 
dresses on the subject of "education in all of the principal towns 
in the State, and aroused the people to the importance of fur- 
nishing their children with collegiate educations. These ad- 
dresses were masterful productions, and made for President 
Thompson a reputation throughout West Virginia, as a platform 
speaker, superior to any other gentleman who had ever presented 
this and kindred subjects to our people. 

President Thompson is an orator — an eleoquent man; but 
his is not a stultified or strutting eloquence to please the ear ; it 
is the eloquence of nature, of thought, of sentiment, of feeling — 
the only eloquence that can reach the heart. As President of our 



220 Rev. John Rhey Thompson. 

University, he left his impress upon the minds land ^hearts of 
hundreds' and even thousands, of the young men of West Vir- 
ginia, which will influence them through life. 

While in charge of the University, in October, 1 879, he was 
elected a delegate to the General Conference of the M. E. Church, 
which held its session in Cincinnati the month of May following. 
President Thompson was the youngest white member of that 
larger body of representative men ; and yet, his superior talents 
enabled him to take an active part in the proceedings of the Con- 
ference. 

He was one year editor of the West Virginia Educational Jour- 
nal, a large weekly newspaper, devoted to the educational inter- 
ests of the State. This journal was a powerful auxiliary to the 
University ; but the duties of President were too onerous to al- 
low him to continue his editorial position longer than one year. 
For a number of years he has been a regular contributor to the 
press in various localities — always writing articles which were 
read and which influenced men in the direction of philanthropic 
and reformatory work. 

In March, 1881, President Thompson resigned his position at 
the University, was transferred to the New Jersey Conference, 
and stationed at Hedding Church, JerseyCity, where he is now 
laboring acceptably to a large congregation of appreciative hearers. 

While President Thompson did not lack success in the educa- 
tional field, still the broadest field for the display of his talents, 
lies in the pulpit. As a preacher he possesses unusual pathos 
and power. He is one of the brightest men of his age the 
writer ever knew ; and I hazard nothing in saying that Provi- 
dence has a wide field of usefulness in reserve for him. 



SERMON XVIII 



BY 



REV. JNO. R.THOMPSON, A.M. 



Theme.— THE USE AND ABUSE OF THIS WOELD. 

Text. — " Use this world as not abusing it." — 1. Cor. vii: 31. 

In the moral and religious history of mankind, two 
great forces or currents have appeared contending 
for the supremacy. Now one, and now the other of 
these forces, has prevailed to the almost entire exclu- 
sion of its rival. I will not be far from the truth 
when I denominate them as the ascetic spirit and the 
worldly spirit. The worldly spirit culminated in 
Greece in the time of Pericles, and in Rome in the 
time of Augustus. In both nations, the period of the 
supremacy of worldliness was the beginning of the de- 
cline of their vigor and power. The causes were in 
operation in the time of Pericles, which rendered 
Greece an easy prey to Philip of Macedon, and Gib- 
bon's Decline and Fall properly begins with the close 
of the Augustan age. The spirit of asceticism began 
to creep in the Christian Church toward the close of 
the third century, became dominant and controlling 
in the fifth, and thenceforward was supreme for al- 
most a thousand years. The ascetic spirit conquered in 
England during the time of Oliver Cromwell, and had 
its fitting culmination in the prohibition of Christmas 
festivities. The restoration of the Stuarts under 
Charles II. introduced the spirit of worldliness and 
pleasure, the worship of vice, if it only were clad in 
the garments of beauty. 



222 West Virginia Pulpit. 

The text incisively condemns both the ascetic and 
the worldly spirit. In opposition to the former it 
says, " Use this world. 77 In opposition to the latter, 
it says, " Do not abuse this world. 77 Observe the 
healthfullness of PauPs religious spirit. It is neither 
fanatical nor sensualistic. We have a right to this 
world, but we are not to allow it to destroy our spirit- 
ual instincts. Not the slightest trace of the dark and 
corrupting spirit of asceticism is to be found in Paul, 
and yet there never was a man so utterly unworldly, 
so far removed from earthliness, so akin to the spirit 
of Jesus Christ. If ever you shall become weary of 
theological hair-splitting, if ever you turn away in 
disgust from ecclesiastical asceticism, if ever you shall 
become victims of a soulless materialism, have re- 
course, I beseech you, to the writings of St. Paul. 
They are natural, cheerful, beautiful and attractive. 
Christ and Paul — not their fallible human intepreters 
— shall ultimately bring men to a reasonable religious 
faith and life. 

This world has been abused by the intense cultiva- 
tion of a narrow and ignorant religious spirit concern- 
ing the future life. It is a discouraging fact that man 
will persist in abusing his best blessings. Nothing 
has been more precious to the weary race than the 
solemn hope of immortality. As the heavens over- 
arch the earth, so the great life of the hereafter over- 
hangs and perfects this fleeting, evanishing existence. 
But men have been so anxious about this fuller life to 
come, they have so absorbingly thought of it, they 
have dreamed so much of its surpassing glory, they 
have painted so many pictures of it, they have so lost 
themselves in the contemplation of its ineffable expe- 
riences, that they have scorned, derided, contemned 
this present life. They have seemingly despised its 
humble, necessary every-da3^ duties. To be meek, to 
be kind, to be thoughtful of others, to be willing to per- 
form even menial offices for the imperfect and crude 
men and women in this actual world — all this and more 
they have forgotten. They were to be kings and priests 
unto God in the heavenly sphere. Why, then, should 
they content tbemselves with the obscure and in- 



The Use and Abuse of this World. 223 

significant duties of this prosaic world ? They resem- 
ble the boy who is ambitious of becoming a merchant 
prince, but despises a store room and the duties of an 
under-clerk. There are no princedoms either on earth 
or in heaven for such men. Let us not forget to pre- 
pare for the other life of the soul, but let us also re- 
member that the best preparation we can make is to 
faithfully, kindly and unweariedly discharge the du- 
ties devolving upon us in this present life. 

God meant something when he created this world, 
and established its manifold economies. This world 
is not a mistake. It was not made on a venture. It 
is not the devil's world, stolen from God and ruined 
after he had finished it. The experiences of this 
world are all valuable and necessary. Our environ- 
ment here is absolutely necessary to our education and 
culture. This world is full of evidences of Intention- 
ality. It was thought out by a great Thinker. It is 
God's world. Our chief business just now is with this 
world. We ought to know itslaws, and their influence 
over us and human civilization. It is the height of 
impiety either to refuse to know or obey the laws of the 
globe which we inhabit. We grossly irsult its Mak- 
er when we despise it, villify it, refuse to read its rev- 
elations, or seek to hide from ourselves the wisdom 
and beneficence of its economies. If I should write a 
book, and send you a copy with the good wishes of the 
author, and you should give it a respectable place in 
your library, but never read it, would I not have just 
ground for offence ? In this world of ours, we have a 
book of God's. Every object on it is a letter, and it 
contains a literature most solemn, most sublime, most 
precious. This book men have forgotten, yea, at times 
despised, yea, at times they have denounced those 
who were trying to read it as irreligious and infidel. 
But to read the great book of Nature, to study its facts, 
to ascertain its laws, to admire its beauty, to extol its 
wisdom, to imitate its impartial and unwasting bene- 
ficence, is our high and sacred duty. 

1. Consider the use and abuse of this world in the 
creation, conservation and distribution of wealth. 
Concerning the accumulation of wealth, the ascetic 



224 Wes£ Virginia Pulpit* 

says, " Seek it not. Money is a great evil. Despise 
wealth as unworthy the pursuit of an immortal man." 
The worldling says, u Get rich at all cost, at any haz- 
ard. Money is the greatest good of life. Seek for 
something that will bring comfort in this world." 
Asceticism takes on another form, and, once in the 
possession of wealth, denies itself all the comforts that 
wealth can procure. Worldliness is prodigal of its 
possessions, and scatters with a reckless and improvi- 
dent hand. Asceticism refuses its wealth to what it 
calls profane or secular enterpriser, and devotes it all 
to ecclesiastical purposes. If one-half the wealth em- 
ployed to erect the splendid cathedrals of Europe had 
been devoted to the education of the people, long ere 
this time standing armies would have been abolished, 
poverty would be exceptional, and superstition no 
longer synonymous with devotion. Christianity, the 
perfection of reason, says, " Make money honestly and 
then use it wisely." We are to make money, not to be 
enslaved by it, but to make it our slave. A money-mak- 
er is not a sinner above all men. To be a creator and 
distributor of wealth is to perform a noble and honor- 
able part in the world. We may use or abuse wealth 
just as we elect, but herein let us remember that we 
are to "use this world as not abusing it." 

2. Let us see how we may so use this world as not to 
abuse it in the experiences of sorrow and suffering. 
The existence of suffering is one of the insoluble mys- 
teries of this world. The genesis of sorrow and suffering 
is absolutely inexplicable. No man can explain it. No 
system of philosophy has given any rational account of 
it. No system of theology has fully satisfied the hu- 
man reason in regard to it. Why our gracious Father, 
the God and Father of our Lord Juses Christ, should 
permit such vast waves of sorrow to roll over the hu- 
man race, no man has yet been able to tell. Here "we 
see through a glass darkly." Only in the more per- 
fect knowledge of Heaven will we honestly and intel- 
ligently say, "Just and true are all thy ways, thou 
King of saints." 

We inherit suffering in all its forms. Modern 
science is every day demonstrating the absolute truth- 



The Use and Abuse of this World. 225 

fulness of the Scripture declaration that the iniqui- 
ties of the father shall be visited upon his children 
even to the third and fourth generation. Physical 
pain, a weak constitution, a vitiated nervous system, 
a predisposition to consumption, impaired digestive 
organs are constantly being bequeathed to innocent 
and unfortunate children. Men are born to insanity, 
to melancholy, to morbid and vicious imaginations. 
Social ostracism and disgrace are not infrequently the 
only legacy guilty parents transmit to their unhappy 
offspring. We add to our inherited sources of suffer- 
ing all the misery we are constantly bringing upon our- 
selves by ignorant and wilful violations of natural, so- 
cial and moral laws. " Man is born to trouble as the 
sparks fly upward." 

The practical question with which we have to deal 
in the stern conflicts of life, is not, how sorrow came 
into the world, but how may we so use it as not to 
abuse it? We abuse sorrow when we allow it to har- 
den us, rendering us callous and indifferent to the 
sorrows of others. Stoicism was simply brutal insen- 
sibility to suffering. Christianity, in Paul's time, was 
the ability to " rejoice in tribulations," as working in 
us a higher, rarer, heavenlier type of character. We 
abuse sorrow when it drives us to despair of the divine 
goodness. Many there are, that in hours of suffering 
and overthrow have cursed God and died. Man can 
commit no greater sin than to cease to believe in the 
infinite and unwasting mercy. We abuse the sorrow 
of the world when we permit it to drive us to abnor- 
mal methods of getting rid of it. Men seek to drown 
their sorrows and forget their sufferings by resorting 
to the use of intoxicating liquors, by plunging 
headlong into the wildest dissipation. Oh, if ever 
the cup of suffering is handed you to drink, if 
ever the sunny landscape of life is overspread with 
ominous clouds, if ever you shall be called upon 
to tread the wine-press alone, do not debase your 
manhood by seeking to forget your sorrows in 
the wild delirium of intoxication ! People are some- 
times rendered whining, complaining querulous by 
little disappointments and vexations. Man was made 



226 West Virginia Pulpit. 

to do and be something more than a chronic grum- 
bler. Do not go through this world scattering groans, 
and sighs and whines, and bewailings on every side. 
Carry a genial, hopeful joy-spreading spirit. Let 
smiles and sunshine follow in your wake. Do not per- 
mit the raspings and irritations of this world to rob 
you of fellowship with the bright and cheerful side of 
life. We use sorrow when by it we are warned from 
evil courses, and are led to reformation of life. Pain 
is often the forerunner of virtue and a true manliness. 
We use sorrow when it inspires us with a tender and 
all-embracing sympathy with our fellow sufferers. 
Proud, merciless, self-contained men learn in the school 
of suffering how to be kind, tender, considerate, compas- 
sionate. Suffering, meekly borne, uncomplainingly 
endured, so purifies, enriches, clarifies the spiritual 
nature as to render us true interpreters of the profound 
mystery of the Incarnation and the Cross. From any 
point of view of the logical understanding, the incar- 
nation of Jesus Christ, his sublime passion, his vica- 
rious death, seem unworthy of a God. How to recon- 
cile such an apparent humiliation on the part of a Be- 
ing of almighty power and infinite resources, is a task 
too great for the natural reason. Geology throws no 
interpreting light on this great mystery. You may be 
profoundly versed in all philosophy, and yet the Cross 
will stagger you. You may be a botanist, a chemist, a 
linguist, a mathematician, a literatteur, and never pen- 
etrate into this Holy of Holies. But in some hour of 
royal suffering, when you are sweetly and uncom- 
plainingly bearing the burdens of others, doing it 
bravely, manfully, self-forgettingly, then how real, 
how certain, how rational, how divine the great re- 
demption of Jesus Christ. Blest the sorrow that en- 
ables us us to read the secret of the Lord. Sacred the 
suffering that joins us in a holy fellowship with our 
Divine Redeemer. He only can interpret Christ who 
has in some measure drank in his blessed Spirit. 

3. Few persons have learned so to use this world as 
not to abuse it in the matter of pleasure, joy, amuse- 
ment, happiness. Man was evidently designed for 
happiness. His head was not given him to ache, but 



The Use and Abuse of this World. 227 

to be clear and strong. Every sense of the body — the 
eye, the ear, the taste — was intended to be an avenue 
of pleasure. Every faculty of the mind — perception, 
reflection, judgment,memory,conception, imagination, 
reason — all are exquisitely adapted to be joy-produc- 
ing. There is a susceptibility of the soul that may 
not bring us the serenest delight. The world we live 
in was just as evidently framed to bring us happi- 
ness. Pleasant light for the eyes, sweet sounds for the 
ear, pure air for the lungs, scenes of glorious beauty 
for the aesthetic faculty, facts for the perceptive faculty, 
truth for the conscience, law for the reason, all beto- 
ken the Divine benevolence. They then abuse this 
world who deny our right to be happy in it. They 
would be wiser than God. They would impute ma- 
levolence to a Father's heart. They would confound 
piety with gloom, reverence with fear. We are not to 
be deceived. There are as many devils behind a sol- 
emn face as a laughing countenance. Pious forgers 
are nearly always solemn. It is not a trifling em- 
ployment of time to amuse ourselves. The great 
workers of the world have been cheerful men, full of 
vivacity, raciness, sprightliness. No man knows how 
to work up the maximum of his power that does not 
understand the art of resting. Luther and Macauley 
were great workers and great laughers. Men work 
better under the inspiration of hope than under the 
tyranny of fear. When we are in splendid health, 
when our faculties are fully awake, when every power 
within us is thoroughly aroused, when the magnifi- 
cent soul proudly marches to conscious victory, then 
we are happy and then we are strong. 

Equally do they abuse the world who affirm that 
happiness is to be sought for its own sake, independ- 
ent of all higher considerations. Happiness is valu- 
able as it leads to goodness. Our highest end is moral 
goodness. Greater and nobler than the capacity to be 
happy is the capacity to be pure. We are made for 
righteousness. We are partakers of the divine nature. 
Never are we to seek pleasure of the bodv, of the ap- 
petites, of the passions, at the sacrifice of the reason, 
the conscience, and the moral sentiments. At all 



228 West Virginia Pulpit. 

cost, though our bodies rot in dungeons, or burn at the 
stake, we are to seek the testimony of a good conscience. 
The supremacy of reason over the passions and appe- 
tites must be maintained despite all the fascinating 
allurements of seductive vice. We may miss fame, 
we may miss ease, we may miss wealth, we may 
miss all the lower forms of pleasure ; but we must not 
miss that holiness and purity without which we can- 
not discern God. 

Learn then to use this world, and do not allow it to 
use you. In all its activities, in all its experiences, 
in all its studies, in all its pleasures, in all its sor- 
rows, in all its sharp transitions from the mist-covered 
valley to the radiant sunlit mount, be superior to it. 
The world has used man. Its storms have fright- 
ened him. Its earthquakes have terrorized him. Its 
thunderbolts have caused him to tremble with super- 
stitious awe. Its exuberant fertility has enervated 
him. Its manifold forms of life have bewildered his 
reason. Its majestic and sublime phenomena have 
made him the slave of driveling superstition. It shall 
be so no longer. God made man to be the ruler of this 
world. He hath crowned him with glory and honor. 
He hath set him over the works of his hands. He 
hath put all things in subjection under his feet. 

Above all, use this world as the stepping-stone to 
the next. It is a prophetic world. It suggests and 
necessitates a higher and better world. There is no 
beauty here, in flower, or cloud, or star, that is not pro- 
phetic of an unseen beauty beyond. There is no love 
here, in child, or maiden, or mother, or martyr, that 
does not point to the immortal love that shall out- 
weary mortal sin. All things in nature and human 
life confirm the testimony of Revelation that we com- 
plete beyond, what we begin* here. This world is a 
school house, and men and women are the pupils. 
For what purpose do we painfully learn our lessons 
and slowly acquire our culture, if there be no life 
commensurate with the preparation ? There is such a 
life. It is ours if we but strive for it. We win it by 
faithful, honest, loving action in the life that now is. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. James Archer Fullerton, D.D., was born in County 
Armagh, Ireland, May 28, 1850. His parents — who are still liv- 
ing in Belfast, Ireland — were then, and are now, members of the 
Methodist Church. His father, for nearly half a century, filled 
positions of trust as an official member of Wesleyan Methodism. 
The Rev. John Wesley baptised his maternal grand-mother, and 
preached in her father's house. 

Dr. Fullerton has three brothers and one sister. One of his 
brothers is a member of the Irish Conference, and is always 
appointed to important stations. Another brother in Ireland, is 
a local preacher of twenty-five years standing. The third, is a 
physician practicing his profession in this country. His sister 
was married to a local preacher in Ireland, and is now a widow, 
her husband having recently passed away. 

Dr. Fullerton's early training and surroundings were thoroughly 
Methodistic, as may be gathered from the forgoing statements. 
At the age of seventeen, he was converted, and commenced to 
preach immediately thereafter. He received a liberal education, 
both in the town of his nativity, and in the city of Belfast, to 
which his parents removed, when he was very young. 

In the autumn of 1871 he was married to Miss Annie J. Bar- 
rett, of his native county, and soon afterwards, with his young 
wife, came to this country. Acting on the advice of Bishops 
Janes and Simpson, he joined the West Virginia Conference in 
March, 1872, and has since served the following churches as pas- 
tor : Evansville, two years ; Monongalia, one year ; Oakland, Md., 
two years ; Volcano, three years; Moundsville Station, three 
years ; and is at present stationed at Charleston, as pastor of the 
State Street M. E. Church. 

He was stationed at Glenarm, in Ireland, before emigrating, 
and was the first resident Methodist preacher in that beautiful 
seaside summer resort ; and would have entered the work of the 
ministry permanently there, but for a belief long held, that in 
the New World he could be more useful and find a better field 
of labor. 

He is a firm believer in American institutions, and lost no 
time in becoming a naturalized citizen, that he might the more 
consistently take an active interest in whatever relates to the 
good of either the State or Church. 

Dr. Fullerton is one of the most promising preachers of his 
age in the entire connection. He, as already stated, has been well 
and carefully educated for the ministerial profession, and he pos- 
sesses those essentials of character which never fail to develop 
real manhood. He is fluent in speech ; his rhetoric is perfect, 
and his logic is convincing. He is popular, practical and clear, 
and never fails to entertain and instruct his auditors. 



SERMON XIX 



BY 



REV. J. A. FULLERTON, D.D. 



Theme :— METHODISM. 
Text : — ''What hath God wrought? " — Numbers xxxili:23. 

For convenience sake, I will adopt the following 
topical divisions in this discourse, namely : Methodism, 
Historical, Doctrinal, Practical, Aggressive and Suggestive ; 
and under these titles group togther a few of the most 
prominent points of interest in our Church polity, 
hoping thereby to lead the hearer forward to subse- 
quent study for himself, so that he may become better 
acquainted with the greatest religious movement of 
modern times ; and recognize easily the hand of 
God in arousing and keeping alive principles, which 
we believe are adapted in the highest sense to the 
need of the human heart. 

As an introductory question, we inquire, What is 
Methodism? It is Christianity alive and in earnest, 
and where it is found indolent or asleep, merely bear- 
ing the forms of our system, it is no longer Method- 
ism, but only a spurious imitation. The world is its 
chartered parish, like its sainted founder it desires to 
have a league offensive and defensive with every sol- 
dier of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a system of 
exclusive barriers, urging in vain the unchristianiz- 
ing of every other denomination — it [has other work 
of higher import to do. 



Methodism. 231 

It possesses the broad, deep spirit of true Catholic- 
ity, and recognizes in all believers members of the 
household of faith. It aims at the speedy removal of 
superstition, idolatry and all intellectual benight- 
edness. It advocates the claims of men as men, and 
gives to Caesar his rightful inheritance. It claims 
for the Creator the ultimate allegiance of the world ; 
nor does it propose to use any unfair means in this 
conquest, not daring to use the illogical assertion 
that the end attained will justify any means that may 
be used. It seeks rather to inspire the heart, enno- 
ble the life, and lead its friends to abstain from all 
appearance of evil. 

Methodism — what is it ? It is a system of religion 
declaring — " not by might nor by power, but by my 
spirit saith the Lord of hosts," and u whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might," re- 
membering as instanced in its history that the weak 
things of this world are often used to confound the 
things that are mighty. It believes in Christianity as 
the only power, extant that can reform and purify 
our earth, and that this power, under God, is the ac- 
knowledged leader of science, civilization and com- 
merce. As harbinger of these, Methodism proposes to 
unfurl its honored banner on every citadel of every 
nation, and exclaim, " Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good will toward men." Upon 
this platform of principles we take our position ; un- 
der this standard we hear the watch cry go forward, 
u for this is the victory that overcometh the world, 
even our faith." 

I. METHODISM, HISTORICAL I 

Its doctrines, we hold, are as old as the Christian 
era, and were taught by the man Christ Jesus ; but 
Methodism proper as a system under this title did 
not come into public requisition until the eighteenth 
century, and then briefly as follows : John and Charles 
Wesley, the founders of Methodism, were the sons of a 
clergyman in the Established Church of England. 
These men when very young were elected to high po- 
sition in the leading university of that country. They 



232 West Virginia Pulpit. 

were scholars of no ordinary type, even at an early age. 
They were also members of the English Church, and 
were untiring and indefatigable in their efforts to ad- 
vance the cause of religion. In this respect, as in 
others, they far exceeded their fellows. It was while 
they were yet students at Oxford that the designation, 
Methodist, was applied to them ; and it is wonderful 
to observe that a title, once given in derision, has now 
become the peculiar distinction of one of the largest 
bodies of Christians in the world. It was even so with 
the designation " Christian," first given to the disci- 
ples at Antioch, as some declare with u hatred loath- 
ing and scorn," now the passport to the highest hon- 
ors and the chief glory of our present civilization. 
John Wesley and his coadjutors were called Metho- 
dists, because they used careful methods in their lives, 
studies and general distribution of time in minister- 
ing to others; and when they became leaders, in a 
great ecclesiastical revolution, the familiar name was 
given to their societies. When Mr. Wesley began his 
ministry, in the early part of the eighteenth century, 
he was greatly shocked to discover the deplorable care- 
lessness and negligence of the Church, both among the 
ministry and laity. He at once resolved to spend his 
life in an effort to " purify the household of faith " of 
all its idols and abuses. The manner in which he 
and his brother performed their part, may be found in 
any of our interesting histories, or better still in Mr. 
John Wesley's own journal. 

Like unto his divine Master, Mr. Wesley led a dif- 
ferent life, was subject to the vilest persecutions, in 
all of which he displayed a spirit of heroism and mor- 
al courage, than which a brighter has not been known 
since the days of his great Original. In the latter 
part of the year 1739, Mr. Wesley organized the first 
Methodist society, composed of eight or ten persons, 
who were deeply convinced of sin, and to these were 
added daily such as made application. Subsequently 
the society was divided into classes, and one person 
in each class appointed leader ; but over all Mr. Wes- 
ley was general Superintendent, assisted by his broth- 
er Charles. In the early part of their labors, none 



Methodism. 233 

but ordained clergymen were permitted to preach : but 
soon the inadequacy of their strength to the great en- 
terprise in which they were engaged, made it necessary 
for them to make suitable selections from the ranks of 
the laity, and to employ them as helpers in their work ; 
and thus was accomplished forever the fact of lay 
preaching. The societies organized by Mr. Wesley in 
England, Ireland and Scotland, remained in fellow- 
ship with the Established Church until his death. 
Soon after which they separated from the Church and 
became a district denomination, under the supervis- 
ion of one President for Great Britain and Ireland; 
and as they increased in numbers, reaching continent- 
al Europe, and the colonies abroad, other conferences 
were formed, and Presidents appointed — all, however, 
subject to the authority and government of the Wes- 
leyan body in England. Methodism in connection 
with the British Conferences remains substantially 
the same in government and polity generally, as at 
the time of Mr. Wesley's death ; but it is now one of 
the most powerful non-conformist bodies in England, 
strong in intellectual force, famous for its orators and 
treated with great respect and reverence by the masses 
of the people, as well as by the clergy. 

The germ of Methodism was carried to this country in 
the year 1766, by Philip Embury, a local preacher, from 
Ireland. He began to preach in the city of New York, 
and soon formed a small class of his own countrymen. 
The same year Thomas Webb, an officer in the British 
army, and also a local preacher, preached in a hired 
room near the Barracks. About the same time Rob- 
ert Strawbridge, another local preacher, from Ireland, 
settled in the State of Maryland, and organized 
several societies. The first Methodist church was 
built in New York in 1768 or 1769, and in the latter 
year Boardman and Pilmoor, two itinerant preachers 
from England, were sent over by Mr. Wesley to care 
for the newly formed churches. These were the first 
traveling Methodist preachers in America. Towards 
the close of 1771, Asbury and Wright came over from 
England. The former was the first person ordained 
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Ameri 
16 



234 West Virginia Pulpit. 

can soil ; and this was done by Dr. Coke, at the first 
General Conference in 1784, who was himself set apart 
for the office of Superintendent by Mr. Wesley, and 
put in charge of the American societies. 

When Dr. Coke came across the ocean to enter upon 
his mission, he carried with him letters of authority, 
that he might ordain to an office similar to his own, 
Francis Asbury, who was already in the field. It may be 
proper to observe here that in the British Conferences, 
and others affiliated therewith, the Presbyterial form 
of orders and ordination prevails almost intact ; but 
it was deemed advisable in devising forms for Ameri- 
can Methodism to accept Episcopal modes in pref- 
erence to Presbyterial. With this understanding, 
however, that no third order in the ministry be cre- 
ated, " but an office rather for convenience," to be 
known for the benefit of the Church as General Super- 
intendent or Bishop. It is not in any way superior 
to the order of Elder, except so far as the office brings 
honor and increased responsibility. Mr. Wesley con- 
sidered himself possessed of all the prerogatives of a 
Scriptural Bishop, or in other words, that so far as the 
virtue of the office is concerned, he and all Elders, or 
Presbyters, were possessed of the parts of Bishops, ac- 
cording to the New Testament. In this he shows that 
notwithstanding his early training he considered the 
ministry as in the hands of two orders. While the 
arrangement of the third was simply human, to secure 
harmony and correct guidance and good government 
in all the important inter^ts relating to the propaga- 
tion of the Gospel. In this sense only have we Bish- 
ops. Although Methodism had been well established 
in the American colonies for many years, it still re- 
mained under the control of Mr, Wesley and his dele- 
gated assistants. But in the year 1784, in the city of 
Baltimore, under the Presidency of the great and good 
Thomas Coke, LL.D., was organized the M. E. Church 
proper, and the first General Conference held. 

In accordance with a document sent out by Mr. 
Wesley, and then in the possession of Dr. Coke, it was 
agreed, says Mr. Asbury, " to form ourselves into an 
Episcopal Church, and to have Superintendents, Eld- 
ers and Deacons." Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury were ac- 



Methodism. 235 

cordingly set apart as General Superintendents, and 
subsequently styled Bishops. 

Thus was inaugurated the grandest movement of 
the century. The Church then laid plans and devised 
a stupendous work, confronting all difficulties, such as 
only men of God could prosecute. Gigantic as were 
the colossal aims of that first General Conference, the 
end already accomplished far transcends their most 
sanguine expectations. The immense structure, whose 
foundations were erected in England, more than a 
century ago, has reached out its arms to the uttermost 
parts of the earth ; and is today, in every land, a true 
monument of praise unto our God. Little did the 
weary band of care-worn yet hopeful veterans, who as- 
sembled in Baltimore, December 24th, 1784, know that 
the grain of mustard seed would so soon become a 
mighty tree, under whose peaceful shades would gath- 
er, in less than a hundred years, millions of the human 
race. Another evidence that God's ways are not as our 
ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts, and under his 
care the desert may rejoice and blossom as the rose, 
ere yet the morning of time has passed away. To Him 
be all the praise fo ever. 

Methodism has been divided into several distinct 
denominations. The causes of these divisions we 
need not, at present notice. Suffice it to say, that with 
the exception of the Welsh Calvanistic body, they ail 
holdincommon thesamedoctrines,andare onlydivided 
on questions of minor importance, such as polity, form 
of government, orders, &c, &c, things external to the 
principles of doctrine and salvation. The total mem- 
bership is at present more than four millions, with a 
general following, in all the branches, of not less than 
twenty millions, including the children who are under 
the care of the Church. The inquiry may here arise, 
What is the secret of such success ? Is it in the doc- 
trines of the Church? No new fangled theories have 
been advanced — no freshly coined imagery of truth to 
lead her forward, and yet in the doctrines taught, we 
find the power by which the people have been gained 
and the cause firmly established. This, therefore, leads 
to a brief consideration of 



236 West Virginia Pulpit. 



II. METHODISM — DOCTRINAL. 



It builds upon the sentiment of the poet of our own 
church, who wrote, 

" Jesus, the name high over all, 
In hell, or earth, or sky, 
Angels and men before it fall, 
And devils fear and fly." 

" Jesns, the name to sinners dear, 
The name to sinners given, 
It scatters all their guilty fear, 
It turns their hell to heaven." 

We recognize Christ as the chief corner-stone of all 
Christian work. Upon him we rest for salvation in 
this life, and glorification after death. He is our all 
and in all. We accept the doctrines of man's deprav- 
ity — the trinity in unity — personality and Godhead 
of the Holy Ghost — the divinity of Christ — an atone- 
ment for all mankind — repentance — justification by 
faith — regeneration — adoption — the witness of the 
Spirit — sanctification, and all other orthodox doc- 
trines of an evangelical faith, ^as held even by the 
apostles themselves. 

As an example of our doctrinal belief in its rela- 
tion to man's salvation and happiness, the following 
brief homily is given on the familiar text found in 
2 Corinthians, v : 17 : 

u Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a 
new creature — old things are passed away — behold all 
things are become new." — Paul. 

This text is selected as likely to illustrate that mode 
of expository treatment of the principles of man's 
salvation, which won for Methodism its earliest vic- 
tories. 

How may one be in Christ, and when ? are the 
questions to engage our attention. " Repentance 
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," 
are the only terms and conditions of salvation. These 
we shall examine carefully, though with brevity, as 
we have only time to glance at the several thoughts 
this outline must present. As the foundation of re- 
pentance, or perhaps a prerequisite to repentance, 
there is first of all the enlightenment of the mind by 
the Word and Spirit of God. One must feel that the 



Methodism. 237 

great truths of the Gospel are truths divinely given for 
the salvation of man, and that they justly describe our 
state by nature, and reveal to us the only Savior who 
is able to satisfy our need. Then follows what is gen- 
erally designated " conviction," but we prefer another 
term, and say " the state of being convinced," for 
whether we accept Christ as our savior, or otherwise, 
we are all "spiritual convicts," or convicted by the 
law of grace and the teaching of the Gospel. In 
the state of being convinced we feel our undone 
condition, our need of mercy and pardon, and that we 
have sinned against Almighty God. The goodness, 
love, justice and long-suffering of our Heavenly Father 
fill our thoughts and rise in condemnation against us. 
This leads to "contrition," or sorrow of heart, for hav- 
ing offended our Infinite Benefactor and Friend. We 
feel that we are guilty before God, and we are pained 
thereby. The soul breaks out in strong desire and 
exclaims 

" Depth of mercy can there be, 
Mercy still reserved for me." 

The penitent one then resolves that he will sin no 
more ; " that he will arise and go to his Father, from 
whom he is estranged, and ask for reconciliation. 
Next and finally in repentance of a scriptural char- 
acter, there is action, or the carrying into execution 
the previous determination. The enquirer comes to 
the mercy seat that he may seek Jesus. Here his 
faith is to rise higher, taking personal hold on Christ 
and accepting him fully as his Savior. Of course 
there has been faith in every step thus far — what we 
may call collateral faith — for if the sinner comes to 
Christ for salvation, the very fact of his coming is evi- 
dence not only that he has the power to believe, but that 
he does believe to some extent. Repentance proves the 
existence of faith, and in our journey from enlighten- 
ment as a sinner, to eternal glory in heaven, we are 
accompanied by faith in God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ every inch of the way. 

The penitent inquirer, convinced, contrite, weary 
and determined, now asks, " What must I do to be 
saved," or like one of old exclaims, "God be merciful 



238 West Virginia Pulpit. 

to me a sinner." But need he sorrow long ? Will the 
Heavenly Dove of Peace tarry in his flight? Nay. 
Jesus is looking for this penitent one, and the peni- 
tent is looking for Jesus. They may soon meet and 
join in a perpetual covenant. Listen: "Come unto 
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will 
give you rest;" or, " If any man sin, we have an ad- 
vocate with the Father ;" and " Whosoever will, let 
him take the water of life freely;" Jesus is "the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
He is our atoning sacrifice. When the repenting soul 
has found its way under the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit to the mercy seat, it reaches the crisis of its jour- 
ney. Now is the supreme moment of venturing all in 
one grand launching out by faith in the atonement. 
The mind has bowed intellectual assent to the princi- 
ples of the Gospel from the beginning, but to save the 
soul requires more. It must be the consent and em- 
bracing of Christ and salvation, not only with the in- 
tellect, but also with the whole heart. Our yearning 
of soul, earnest and intense affection of heart must 
bear their testimony, and cry out, " My Lord and my 
God." "With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness." 

We accept Christ as our Savior, believing not only 
that he " died for all," and perchance will save us, 
but that he does not save us now. When ? The very 
instant we believe it. He is our personal Savior now. 
We by faith reach out our hand and grasp him as our 
only hope, and in that moment we are his — called to 
be disciples. It is almost impossible for us to make 
the plan of salvation appear as simple as it really is ; 
words only serve to make clouds. It is so easy for us 
to imagine, but so difficult to describe. Take a ship 
at sea ; the storm comes, the vessel is stranded on a 
sunken rock ; it is a wreck. The people have to shift 
for themselves ; every other hope is dying. See the 
poor traveler in the water ! He struggles for life ; is 
scarcely able to swim. A passing plank floats near 
him ; he has only to reach out his hand and rest on 
the plank. He does not wait to reason ; he asks no 
questions. He simply clings to the plank and is saved. 



Methodism. 289 

So it is in salvation. Jesus is our hope, our plank. 
We are sinking in life's troubled sea. He comes near 
us ; says, " Fear not, it is I ; trust me ; take my hand, 
I will bear you up and take you to a place of safety." 
We believe him, accept him, follow him, obey his in- 
structions, practice his precepts and know that he is 
our Rock, the Rock of our salvation, " higher than 
we," and eternal. This is justifying faith by which 
we are pardoned or absolved. It is not literal justi- 
fication. We could not be legally or literally justi- 
fied unless our innocence were first established, or just 
cause proven. It is relative justification, that is jus- 
tification or pardon for Christ's sake. We have sinned 
against God, and deserve punishment. Jesus has died 
in our " room and stead." His offering has vicarious 
merit. God is love. The law, in its majesty, is satis- 
fied, and because of the efficacy of our Redeemer's 
work, " God can be just and yet the justifier of every 
one that believeth;" hence we are justified relatively, 
or for Jesus 1 sake ; and now the exhortation is, "Go 
in peace and sin no more," or, in paraphrase, the past 
is forgiven and forgotten ; henceforth lead a new life, 
a life of faith in the Son of God. At this moment, to 
use a pretty metaphor, a new name is given to us, and 
that new name of Divine import is registered on the 
heavenly roll, so that our citizenship is now in Heav- 
en, and we are entitled to all the emoluments of heav- 
enly blessing. 

At this same period of our experience w r e are subject 
to a change of heart, called regeneration. While it 
seems to succeed justification in the order of its be- 
stowment, it really accompanies the former ; they oc- 
cur about the same time. If there were no change 
within our heart and being, merely pardoning or ab- 
solving us would only save us for a moment, we would 
enter into sin again. You may take the illustration 
of a watch, the mechanism of which is deranged. You 
point the indicators or correct the time every hour, 
but all to no purpose. " The watch will not go." So 
with us without regeneration ; something is wrong 
with our spiritual mechanism. As you take the watch 
to the watchmaker to have it repaired or cleaned, so 



240 West Virginia Pulpit. 

we take our hearts and minds to Christ, the Great 
Master- Workman, and he sends to our aid the Holy 
Spirit, who changes our condition within as Christ has 
changed our relationship without. He changes our 
desires, motives, purposes, thoughts, lifts them into a 
purer channel, directs them heavenward, gives us 
grace to abstain from evil, breaks the dominion of sin, 
plants us in Jesus Christ, and promises help in every 
moment of emergency. Thus we are " born from 
above. " Christ has put our names on the roll of the 
saved, and the Holy Spirit gives his influence in our 
heart and life to keep us there and prevent subsequent 
estrangement from God. We are now free from condem- 
nation, and henceforward must walk, not according to 
the flesh (or sin), but according to the spirit (of puri- 
ty) of our new life. 

Here the inquirer asks, " how shall we know that 
this great work is done? What testimony will God 
give us ?" u The Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
spirit that we are the children of God." " Because ye 
are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your 
hearts, crying Abba, Father." Whoso believeth " hath 
the witness in himself." How may we know that we are 
saved ? is an all-important question. Let us answer 
it briefly and simply. You will know five things. 
First, that you have been led by the Divine Spirit. 
No evil spirit would help us to improve ourselves. 
Secondly, you know that you have turned away from 
sin. If we make a change of anything in our life or 
in our position, or even in our room or posture, we 
know it, and when we cease to take sin as our chief 
good and turn around to God, we know that we have 
done so. Thirdly, you know whether honestly, fully 
and cordially you are trusting Christ as your Savior, 
with a loving heart and a believing mind. Your own 
spirit must hear the case and decide the issue. Your 
own spirit, (that is, your own consciousness), says 
to you now, you are leaning on the arm of Jesus. 
Fourthly, you " love the brethren." The Church of 
Christ appears to you in a different light ; you are 
willing to cast in your lot with the people of God, and 
whenever these simple marks and this love are found, 



Methodism. 241 

that soul is indeed converted and saved. Finally: 
there is the witness of the Spirit of God. What is 
this ? you ask. It is hard to portray or define this 
strange testimony, yet we heartily accept it. When 
the soul is resting in Jesus, saved, there comes to our 
consciousness or spirit a sweet messenger from above. 
He whispers " peace, be still,' 7 and there is a li great 
calm." He has been leading us all the time to the 
haven of safety,and now he si mply tells us through the 
medium of our own intelligence that we are there. 
No tongue or pen can tell the strange mystery of his 
office. Some are joyous and filled with ecstacy and 
demonstrative gladness when the blessing of rest and 
peace is infused into the soul by the Divine Spirit ; oth- 
ers are quiet, calm, tranquil, serene as the smoothing 
of the river after a mighty storm. Take this simple 
illustration : We go into the telegraph office, hand a 
message to the operator, and in a moment it is carried 
by the u controlled lightning" to the other side of the 
Atlantic Ocean. So it seems to us that between the 
soul of man and the throne of the Infinite there is an 
electric wire of spiritual communication; and when 
we come to our Savior and give our life into his 
hands to keep for weal or woe, for life or death, the Re- 
cording Angel touches the wire attached to the mercy 
seat or throne, and in some way we feel that we are 
accepted in Christ, and now in him, have " become 
new creatures." Now he sings as he feels "Christ 
within, the hope of glory :" 

" My God is reconciled, 

His pardoning voice I hear , 
He owns me for his child, 
I can no longer fear. 
With confidence I now draw nigh, 
And Father, Abba, Father cry." 

Prior to his repentance he was a wanderer from his 
Father's house, alienated and estranged, having no 
claim upon his goodness, mercy or inheritance. Now 
all this is changed ; he is reconciled to his Father, he 
is taken out of the family of the evil one, away from 
the encampment and service of satan, and now estab- 
lished as a resident member of the " Household of 
faith." He becomes a dutiful and obedient son, ac- 



242 West Virginia Pulpit. 

knowledging and keeping the commandments of God, 
walking in wisdom's ways and receiving from the kind 
hand of his loving Parent all that may be requisite or 
best for his happiness and spiritual culture. The 
promises are his, the provisions of grace are his, the 
special providence of God is his for his protection and 
support. Hereafter and forever he is to " fear God 
(with loving, filial fear) and keep his commandments, 
for this is the whole duty of man." Not only is it a 
duty, but privilege, favor and glorious coronation. 

He is now justified, regenerated, adopted into the 
fold and flock of the Good Shepherd, and all this 
has upon it the seal of the Holy Spirit. "Forward " 
is now his watchword, until every part of his 
being is permeated by the leaven of righteousness. 
He is to go from " strength to strength " and from 
" love to love " and from " conquering to conquer." 
The law of growth and progress is plainly indicated; 
it remains for him to follow that law, continually 
urging his way upward and onward, perfecting his 
conduct and entire life into conforming with the Di- 
vine Model, and depending on the Holy Spirit's help 
and presence. He is to go on to perfection. This 
work may be, by successive stages, hindered or has- 
tened in proportion to application and fidelity. There 
is not one law for the mind and another for the spirit ; 
that is, there is not a law of instantaneous education 
and conformation for soul life and another of gradual 
development and completeness for mental life. There 
is direct analogy in every department of nature and 
being. None of the laws of life, in any form, must 
contradict others of equal importance ; hence the as- 
sertion repeated, we must go from one altitude to an- 
other in the enjoyment of grace, using every means 
we can command so that we may the more speedily 
reach our destination, and feel and know that we are 
entirely sanctified or cleansed from all sin. It will 
take time and care, with many an earnest struggle, to 
overcome self in every department; to bow our will 
always to the will of our Creator; to gain the victory 
over everything impure, worldly and offensive, pas- 
sion, temper, life, conversation — all must be under 



Methodism. 243 

strict government and continuous control. Some- 
times our besetments may defeat us, bat if one stum- 
ble or fall, that is no reason why he should stumble 
always, or refuse to rise again. These only warn us 
of the danger in the way and show us the more our 
need of greater trust in Christ and less in ourselves. 
If we keep u looking unto Jesus," we are sure to win 
the race. " He will never leave us nor forsake us." Step 
after step he will help us to take until the top stone 
is placed on the beautiful building of grace, amid 
shouts of praise and rejoicing. While the way to our 
expected goal is becoming shorter, every triumph we 
achieve, and the grand end of our striving, Christian 
perfection is drawing near, yet we have much joy and 
peace all the way. We are not deprived of any of the 
real pleasures of life; everything good, noble and ele- 
vating belong to the Christian, so that even in his war- 
fare he is reaping a rich reward. By his devotion, con- 
secration and continued watchfulness, he may have his 
u hope fulfilled " early, but if he stand still or retrograde, 
it will be " hope deferred," if not finally extinguished. 
We copy the following from Dr. Pope's Theology, vol- 
ume third, recently placed in the disciplinary course 
of study for all ministerial candidates of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. It is well worthy of careful 
consideration, as coming from one who is justly ac- 
knowledged in the light of a standard teacher and au- 
thor. Dr. Pope is one of the ex-Presidents of the Brit- 
ish Conference, Weslyan Methodist Church, and in 
1875, fraternal Delegate from England to our General 
Conference : 

" In his administration of sanctifying grace, the 
Holy Spirit proceeds by degrees. Terms of progress 
are applied to each department of that work in the 
saint ; or, in other words, the goal of entire sanctifica- 
tion is represented as the end of a process in which 
the spirit requires the co-operation of the believer. 
This co-operation, however, is only the condition on 
which is suspended what is the work of divine grace 
alone. The negative side of sanctification, as the re- 
moval of sin, is described as a process, and in a vari- 
ety of ways. The most familiar is that which repre- 



244 West Virginia Pulpit. 

sents the sinning nature as under the doom of death. 
'Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of 
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should 
not serve him.' Crucifixion is a grand mental pro- 
cess, disqualifying the body from serving any master, 
as such certainly tending to death. So in the paral- 
lel to the Galatians, " They that are Christ's have cru- 
cified the flesh with the affections and lust/ and else- 
where they are said to 'put off the old man and put 
on the new man.' Moreover in the last passage the 
Apostle bids us 'mortify therefore your members' by 
killing or weakening down to extinction every indi- 
vidual tendency or disposition to evil. Not only is 
the old man to be destroyed by the doom of crucifix- 
ion, but every specific member of his sin is to be sur- 
rendered to atrophy Crucifixion is of the whole 

body, mortification is of each member. Now, while 
all these passages refer to the earnest, self-discipline 
of the believer entering into the design of redemp- 
tion, they represent only the submission of faith, 
which brings into the soul the virtue of life-giving 

and death-giving spirit From this we may deduce 

two principles : First, the general bias or character of 
the soul becomes positively more and more alienated 
from sin and set upon good, and proportionally the 
susceptibility to temptation, or the affinity with sin 
becomes negatively less and less evident in its con- 
sciousness. There is in the healthy progress of the 
Christian a constant confirmation of the will in its 
ultimate choice, and a constant increase of its power 
to do what it wills. The vanishing point of perfec- 
tion in the will is to be entirely merged in the will 
of God. There is also a perpetual weakening of the 
susceptibility to temptation. What was at first a hard 
contest, gradually advances to the sublime triumph 
of the savior, 'Get thee hence, Satan.' Every active 
and passive grace steadily advances, and sin fades out 
of the nature. Every habit of evil is unwound from 
the life, until at length the Christian can say, like his 
Master, ' The prince of this world cometh and hath 
nothing in me.' This gradual and sure depression of 
the sinful principle down to its zero or limit of non- 



Methodism. 245 

entity, is progressive sanctification. .. The pos- 
itive side, that of consecration by the spirit of love, 

is also a process; a gradual process Hence the 

shedding abroad of the love of God by the Holy Ghost 
admits of increase. It is enough to cite the Apostle's 
prayer ' that your love may abound yet more and more' 

..St. Paul says, ' The love of Christ constraineth 

us,' meaning that love in us which constraineth 
Christ himself. ' How am I straitened till it be ac- 
complished.' This term points to a gradual deepen- 
ing pressure, and as in the Lord himself, so in his 
servants, the power of love drives every impediment 

before it It gradually, surely and effectually, 

gathers itself within closer and closer bonds until its 
force becomes irresistible. And of that same love the 
Ephesian prayer asks, ' That ye be rooted and ground- 
ed in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, 
what is the breadth and length and depth and height 
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowl- 
edge.' Holiness as an estate is also described as progres- 
sive ; first, as a goal to be attained ; secondly, to be at- 
tained through human effort, but lastly, only as the be- 
stowment oi the Holy Ghost, the Supreme Agent of all 
good. Once we have the expression, ' perfecting holi- 
ness,' where the word indicates an end to which effort 
is ever converging, whether that end be fully attained 
or not ; in any case it is a progress. Again, St. Paul 
prays l The very God of peace sanctify you wholly,' 
where the gradual perfecting of body, soul and spirit 
is obviously referred to. Again, a still higher prayer, 
4 Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is 
truth ;' truth, however, which the Lord always speaks 
of as gradually imparted. ' He will guide you into all 

truth.' The sanctification administered, effected, 

imparted as the free gift of the Holy Ghost is also 

conditional on the effort of man The process of 

sanctification keeps pace with the fulfillment of cer- 
tain conditions. St. James says, ' Cleanse year hands 

and purify your hearts.' Such passages would 

not be found, were it not the intention of the Spirit 
to impress on us a high estimate of our own responsi- 
bility. Nothing is more constantly declared than that 



246 West Virginia Pulpit. 

the effusion of the Spirit of consecration keeps pace 

with the co-operation of the believer ,.. As to the 

state of holiness, it is a goal to the attainment of 
which Christian men are habitually required to bend 
their effort. It is the object of their own aspiration ; 

It is the secret and strength of the command 

fc perfecting holiness.' As to righteousness, ' That the 
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,' in 
whom l love is the fulfilling of the law.' The word 
fulfilled here must have its full force ; it refers to the, 

gradual accomplishment of a design .The divine 

grace in our lives gradually and surely works out the 
requirements of the new evangelical law interpreted 
by grace. There is a consummation of the Christian 
experience, which may be said to introduce perfec- 
tion, when the spirit cries c it is finished,' in the be- 
liever. The moment when sin expires, known only 
to God, is the divine victory over sin in the soul ; this 
is the office of the Spirit alone. The moment when 
love becomes supreme in its ascendency, a moment 
known only to God, is the Spirit's triumph in the 
soul's consecration ; this also is entirely his work. 
And whenever that maturity of Christian experience 
and life is reached, which the apostle prays for 
so often, it is solely through the operation of the same 
Spirit. It is ' being filled with all the fullness of God,' 
and that through being ' strengthened into might by 
his Spirit in the inner man.' While, therefore the 
tenor of the New Testament represents entire sancti- 
fication as the result of a process, it is also ascribed 
to the result of a constant effusion of the Holy Ghost 
crowned in our last and consummating act of his 

power But lastly, it must be remembered that 

this final and decisive act of the Spirit is the real act 
set upon a previous and continuous work. The pro- 
cesses may be hastened and condensed into a short 
space; they must be passed through as processes. 
' Yea, we establish the law,' was the apostles vindica- 
tion of the doctrine of ' faith, counted for righteous- 
ness,' and the same vindication is necessary for sanc- 

tification Never do we read of a higher life, 

that is, other than the intensification of the lower. 



Methodism. 247 

Whenever the seal of perfection is set on 

the work, whether in death or in life, it must be a 
critical and instantaneous act, possibly known to God 
alone, or if revealed in the trembling consciousness of 
the believer, a secret that he knows not how to utter. 
But this leads us from the sanctuary to the most Holy 
Place." 

The preparations for an entire consecration to God 
may be long continued, or they may be hastened. 
(Let us therefore work out our salvation with fear and 
trembling, trusting in the Lord for guidance and 
power. Let us remember that he helpeth our infirmi- 
ties and maketh intercession for us.) 

This is given as a plain statement of the plan of sal- 
vation. 

We have two sacraments, namely : Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. The meaning we attach to these 
there is not time now to elaborate. We preach Jesus 
and the resurrection. Heaven for the pure and exclu- 
sion therefrom for the impenitent. These are the doc- 
trines which best suit humanity everywhere, and at- 
tending the preaching of which the Word has come in 
the demonstration of power and with the unction of 
the Holy One. The human heart responds to these 
truths and exclaims, u Speak, Lord, thy servant hear- 
eth." 

III. METHODISM — PRACTICAL. 

That it is so is seen in its adaptation to the neces- 
sities and emergencies of all classes and conditions 
of the people. It calls for devotion on the part of its 
subjects, and holy living from its adherents. Its ma- 
chinery, so to speak, accommodates every grade of hu- 
manity, and this without any violation of any moral 
precept or compromising of the highest forms of rec- 
titude. If you desire to notice proofs of its practica- 
bility, follow closely the movements of the men who 
were the instruments of its introduction. 

When Mr. Wesley began his work, in what condi- 
tion did he find the State Church ? Many of the clergy 
were gamblers, drunkards and sportsmen. Not a few 



248 West Virginia Pulpit. 

of them were arian in belief, and quite a number open- 
ly avowed infidelity. True, many of the clergy were 
pure, even in that corrupt age, and faithful in preach- 
ing sound doctrines ; but these were caused to endure 
much persecution for the Bible's sake ; and even their 
brethren mocked their devotion and made laughter 
of their fidelity to the thirty-nine articles of religion. 
Many of the clergy, supported by State funds, did not 
accept those " articles," and spoke of them in terms of 
blasphemy. Mr. Wesley was literally raised up and 
thrust out to reform and purify the State Church, 
and introduce the elements of a second Protestant 
revolution. He and his co-laborers were chosen to 
take from the eyes of the English people the scales 
of superstition and sin and as they went about preach- 
ing as did the apostle, " Repentance toward God and 
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." God eminent- 
ly blessed their labors and gave his seal of approbation. 
Theoretical, experimental and practical religion, 
instead of dead forms, were loudly proclaimed through 
all the land, and the people listened, meditated and 
believed. It was then discovered that Methodism 
was the very system needed to rescusitate the liieless 
institutions of the National Church ; and thanks be 
unto God, its work was not confined to that day, or to 
that condition of society ; it is equally qualified to 
sustain and lead forward a living host of witnesses in 
this purer era. The work is not yet all done. Meth- 
odism is not ready for burial. It is not worn out or 
obsolete. It is one of the u eternal forces," by which 
God proposes to subjugate the powers of darkness, and 
bring forth light unto the conclusion of all prophecy, 
and the consummation of all things. While the world 
lasts, Christianity must be practical and Methodism 
will succeed only as the same rule is steadily followed. 
We want earnest living men and women, who will 
stoop down to suffering humanity, and^ manifest the 
spirit of the Good Samaritan, stop with a word of 
comfort, a look of love, a helping hand. The world 
needs more sympathy, and he is not a man, but 
only a walking machine, who can avert his gaze 
when starvation and woe confront his eye and atten- 
tion and call for relief speedily. 



Methodism. 249 

iv. methodism — aggressive. 

Aggressiveness has always been one of Methodism's 
leading characteristics. It has taken long and rapid 
strides among the nations of the earth ; and yet it 
scorns to grow strong from the ranks of others, or to 
place a barrier in the way of any other church where 
evangelical truth is held. It is painful indeed to 
watch the efforts of some denominations of only pass- 
ing importance, who do their mission in a very un- 
christian manner. Their chief aim seems to be not 
so much to save the souls of men as to garner them 
from other parts of the u household of faith." They 
seem to glory in trying to overthrow other churches. 
Such conduct is unchristian and degrading. We do 
not wish that Methodism should reap fruit with so 
much shame, but prefer " to go to them that sell and 
buy for ourselves." Anything resembling petty rob- 
bery, in the name of Christ, is an insult to his cause, 
and dishonoring his kingdom. What kind of aggres- 
sion do we ask then for Methodism ? A steady march 
against the world, the flesh and the devil, — entering 
every stronghold of satan, and demanding uncondi- 
tional surrender, in the name of the adorable Trinity. 
Going where we are needed — going where we are need- 
ed most. We have not time to cross swords with 
those who are on the Lord's side equally with our- 
selves. Oars a nobler end, a purer purpose. Our 
work is more like heaven. We should attack the foe of 
our race, carry away his subjects and forever make 
them prisoners of hope and citizens of the Kingdom of 
Grace, until everywhere the knowledge of God cov- 
ers the earth as the waters cover the sea. Then, and 
not till then, is our work done, and our discharge 
asked. The aggressive feature of Methodism has ex- 
posed it to many persecutions, but like the gigantic 
oak, towering toward the sky, these storms have only 
made it plant its roots more firmly in the soil, and giv- 
en it greater power of endurance. 

V. METHODISM — SUGGESTIVE. 

The most important suggestions are briefly, five in 
17 



250 West Virginia Pulpit. 

number : First, If God be for us who can be against 
us ? And that we have his presence is as sure, as Provi- 
dence divine can indicate. Be not faithless but be- 
lieving — the Lord our God will go before us. 

Secondly, the influence and power of one man when 
clothed with the panoply of truth, courage and love. 
Wesley, Knox, Luther, Melancthon and others of 
God's noblemen. 

Thirdly, that the first preparation for the Gospel 
ministry is the presence and power of spiritual en- 
dowment. Give us educated ministers is the call. 
We say "Amen" to it; but let them also be filled 
with the Spirit. Culture and refinement are good and 
in demand more and more, but the great essential of 
the days of the apostles must not be lost sight of u tar- 
ry ye at Jerusalem," &c. 

Fourthly, the greater usefulness of a Church free 
from State control. Make Methodism a State Church 
in the United States, and immediately you sharpen 
the shears to take away the glory and strength of the 
system. 

Fifthly, great possibilities await us in the future. 
As a Church, what may we not do, if we are faithful 
to our history and careful of our record ? When the 
topstone is brought forth to be placed upon the fin- 
ished and glorified spiritual structure, with shouts of 
rejoicing and grace among those who have borne the 
burden and heat of the day, will be the millions of 
our Israel to ask, as in the centuries of long ago, " What 
hath God wrought ? " 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Kev. S. E. Jones, now stationed at Oakland, Maryland, is a 
young man of great promise to the Church. For a time, he 
fought against the Divine call to the ministry, but finally yield- 
ing, he found a ready field for his gifts and graces in the itiner- 
ancy, amid the mountains of West Virginia. The nine years 
thus far spent in the West Virginia Conference, have been suc- 
cessful ones ; and his friends look for even greater success in the 
future. Brother Jones is a student ; is well read in theology ; 
is a good speaker; always thoroughly studies his subjects, and 
delivers his sermons with earnestness and power. He ranks 
among the very best preachers in the Conference. 

I give below a brief narrative of his life, in his own language, 
as detailed to me in conversations on the subject. He says : "I 
was born in Herefordshire, England, March 22d, 1846 — the ninth 
of a family of ten children. My early education was obtained in 
the public schools, in boyhood, and continued while teaching, 
after sixteen years of age. My parents were members of the 
Church of England, in which communion I received early reli- 
gious influences. It was the only Church I attended regularly in 
England, except Mr. Spurgeon's, during a three years' residence 
in London. 

" After the death of both parents, I married Miss Elleanor J. 
Griffiths, in June 1870, and embarked for America the following 
week. My first intention was to go to Colorado, but my wife's 
sickness detained me in New York city. As she did not seem 
likely to get strong for some time, I settled in that city, and en- 
gaged in whatever employment I could find. My wife had been 
a member of the Wesley an Church in England. I had never 
made a profession of religion, and when I came out to America, 
and for many years previous, had paid little attention to religion, 
except to doubt it. Afflictions arising out of my wife's illness, 
led me to God. We had made the acquaintance of a Mr. Car- 
penter, a class-leader of Lexington Avenue M. E. Church, who 
invited us to go to class meeting and church. Our preferences 
led us to go, and on my first attendance at class meeting, after 
speaking of my intention of leading a religious life, I felt for the 
first time the happy experience of a child of God. This was in 
the first week of November 1872. 

" Brother Carpenter often urged me to preach, but I resisted, 
on account of my incompetency, and the condition of my wife's 



252 Rev. S. E. Jones. 

health being such that I could not prepare myself. (I had joined 
the Lexington Avenue M. E. Church under the pastorate of F. 
S. De Hass, D.D., in November 1872). I taught in the Sabbath 
School, and did what I could, but though I felt that I might 
preach, I could not see the way open. On the following July 
my wife died. I felt then that the way was opened, and, under 
the advice of my pastor, Dr. De Hass, came out to West Virginia 
with a letter of introduction from him to Brother Ison, who was 
then Presiding Elder of the Parkersburg District. This was in 
October 1873. Brother Ison took me with him to his Quarterly 
Meeting on Harrisville Circuit, of which Brother M. McNeel had 
charge. During the protracted meeting that followed, I preached 
my first sermon — before I was even licensed to preach. While 
waiting for Conference to meet in the spring, I taught school at 
Smithton, in Doddridge county. I was licensed to preach on the 
Smithton Circuit by Brother A. Hall, about the close of 1873. 

I joined the Conference at Fairmont in the spring of 1874, and was 
appointed to Mannington Circuit, with Brother R. M. Wallace as 
colleague. The next year I was appointed to Bridgeport Circuit, 
and the following year to Rowlesburg Station. Next I was sent 
to Fetterman Station for the short year of 1877. In August of 
that year I married Miss Belle Anderson, daughter of the late 
W. Anderson, Esq., of Monongalia county; and at the Confer- 
ence following, I was appointed to Weston Station, where I re- 
mained three years. Then I was appointed to Oakland Station, 
where I now reside, and where I am, in my humble way, trying 
to do my Master's work." 



SERMON XX. 



BY 



REV. SAMUEL E. JONES. 



Theme :— PRAYER. 



Text : — " After this manner, therefore, pray ye, 'Our Father, 
which art in Heaven.' "—Matthew vi: 9. 

The subject of prayer is full of interest to the 
thoughtful and religious mind. To the philosophic 
inquirer, it is interesting from its beginning on ques- 
tions of Providence and natural law. To the Chris- 
tian believer it is important because of its vital rela- 
tion to the religious life. To him who regards it as 
an essential means of development of spirituality and 
godly character, few questions are more important 
than those that relate to the spirit and manner of 
true prayer. 

In all its history, the human race has demonstrated 
its inability, unaided, to reach a true idea and prac- 
tice of prayer. While its prevalence points to the 
fact that there is in man the instinct of worship, the 
universal human error, on the subject, indicates that 
the way to God has been lost. Not to speak of the ex- 
travagances andabsurdities of heathen worship, we find 
that even among ,those who have and accept Divine 
revelation, the proper spirit and power of prayer are 
frequently wanting. Among the Jews Jesus found that 
formalism had banished devotion, and a mechanical 
elaborateness had left no place for spiritual exercise. 



254 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Instead of being an humble, trusting communion with 
God, it was, under Pharisaic instruction, made an in- 
strument of self conceit and pride. Nor has the Chris- 
tian Church been free from the errors into which the 
Jews fell. The tendency is to develop formalism and 
destroy spirituality — to lose the power in the elabora- 
tion of methods. This is not applicable to those only 
who are professedly ritualistic. There may be formal 
irregularity and spontaneous unspirituality. There 
is often as much formalism in private devotions as in 
public services. The truth is, that we can avoid for- 
malism, not by any rules of ours, or the want of them, 
but by adopting the prayer of the disciples, " Lord, 
teach us to pray," and then by earnest attention to 
what he has taught us on the subject. 

The Bible would be inadequate to supply our spir- 
itual needs if it did not thoroughly inform us on this 
matter. We find it is full of prayer. The life and 
teachings of Christ are especially rich in instruc- 
tion on this subject. With him prayer was a constant 
exercise. His whole life was permeated with it. He 
who, if any, seemed least in need of prayer, was con- 
spicuous for prayerfulness. 

The most valuable instruction Christ has given to 
the world on this subject is what is known as the 
" Lord's Prayer," the first words of which are con- 
tained in the text that is the basis of this discourse. 
There can be no dispute regarding the use we should 
make of this divinely appointed form of worship. Its 
purpose is to supply us with a true idea of the spirit 
and manner of acceptable prayer. Its perfection as a 
model, involves its excellence as a form for use as 
it is. Hence it is both to be used and to be stud- 
ied. But it is particularly to be studied. The ten- 
dency in worship is towards incantation — the prac- 
tice of rites and the repetition of forms, as though 
there were some value in them. The principle of this, 
so redicuious in the heathen, is not always absent 
from so-called Christian worship. Care must be ta- 
ken to avoid the idea that because one has said the 
"Lord's Prayer " he has really pra} T ed. There may 
be prayerless repeating of this perfect prayer. Above 



Prayer. 255 

all things, Christ would have us understand this 
model that its simplicity, directness, and what is of 
first importance, its spirit may characterize all our 
communion with God. He has given it to us that it 
may inspire and guide us to successful and satisfying 
fellowship with him upon whom we must depend. In 
this, as in all revelation, u the letter killeth, but the 
spirit giveth life," may he who has given us this 
prayer for our instruction and guidance, help us to un- 
derstand the meaning and power of the first words, 
•' Our Father, which art in Heaven." 

This opening thought is the key to all that follows 
and to the truth of genuine prayer. From its sim- 
plicity and familiarity its force is not always felt. 
Yet, when we master it and make it our own, the 
mountain-top of divine communion is reached,with all 
the mists of superstition, fear and unbelief far below. 

Jesus gives us in these words the conception of God 
we ought to have in prayer. It is seldom, perhaps, 
that persons stop to ask themselves, What is God to 
me? What is my conception of his relations to my 
life and being? Yet no questions are more important. 
Our working idea of God is the basis of our moral 
and religious life. Not the creed to which we may 
subscribe, that does not always represent what is be- 
lieved, but the idea that is a practical power to us. 
Now, God may be regarded from different stand-points, 
and in fact is so regarded, from which arises the va- 
riety that prevails in philosophical and religious sys- 
tems. Some think only of the mystery of his nature, 
and call him the Absolute, the Great Unknown, and 
other high-sounding, but empty names. This concep- 
tion of God is misty, vague, worthless. Others regard 
him only as manifested in matter — a force showing 
itself in many forms — and their thought is pantheis- 
tic. Or, he may be viewed as a Creator only — a nec- 
essary element in a system of thought, to fill up a 
chasm in the plan of a philosopher. Some exalt cer- 
tain attributes to the depreciation of others. To one, 
divine sovereignity obscures all the rest, to another di- 
vine love shuts out of sight all other attributes. The 
result is, a conception of God that is more or less er- 



256 West ViRGiNi a Pulpit. 

roneous, and a corresponding effect in life and char- 
acter. And so the first lesson the Master gives us in 
prayer is a right conception of him to whom we go, 
and of our relation to him. When ye pray, say : 
" Our Father." Not that we are to think less of his 
infinite nature and attributes. But in addition to the 
facts that he is Almighty, Eternal, All-knowing, and 
fills the universe, we are to remember for our comfort 
and assurance that : 

" All this God is all for us, 
A Father all our own." 

We feel at once that this is just what we need. God 
is brought very close to us. Communion and fellow- 
ship have a meaning they cannot otherwise have. St. 
John says, " Our fellowship is with the father." Fel- 
lowship ! Who can fathom the deep significance of the 
word when joined with the idea of Divine Father- 
hood? Not only is the personality of God made^vivid, 
but we feel that we are. linked to him in bonds of na- 
ture and of life. For we need not regard the Father- 
hood of God as a mere name, used as an accommoda- 
tion to human intelligence. Though reason may 
stumble at the thought, faith joyfully accepts the 
mighty truth, thai; we are partakers of the divine na- 
ture. There is, perhaps, much undeveloped signifi- 
cance in the fact that when, for the welfare of human- 
ity, it was necessary, it was not repugnant to the di- 
vine nature to become man. We stand in dumb 
amazement before the fact that the Word, which was 
God, became flesh — that he who was the brightness of 
the glory of God and the express image of bis person, 
took upon him, not the nature of angels, but the seed 
of Abraham. Some light may be shed on the mys- 
tery from the primitive revelation, that God, at the 
first, made man in his own image. Human nature is 
now abnormal and sinful, but we must not forget that, 
though now a wreck, it was once as noble a vessel as 
ever God sent out on the sea of existence. We look 
backward as well as forward for the dignity and glory of 
manhood. And fallen as it is, there is something in it 
that could move the divine nature so that it is written, 
u God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 



Prayer. 257 

Son.' The thought of God as a father, kindles the no- 
blest hopes and aspirations in the human breast, and 
stirs the soul with all the "power of an endless life." 
God is never so Great to us — he never so fills and thrills 
us as when we think of him as really u Our Father." 
This conception of God, while it is the fullest and 
most satisfying, is also the simplest. The infant mind 
can grasp it. To the ignorant there is no difficulty 
in comprehending it. To the fearful and doubting it 
is attractive and assuring. Whatever their other 
conceptions of God, all mankind may meet on this 
common ground of thought and relation and in prayer 
say " Our Father." 

As the true conception of God in prayer is as a Fa- 
ther, so the true spirit of prayer is the filial spirit. 
To the fatherly heart nothing is so acceptable as a 
childlike spirit. When God seeks men to come to 
him, though he is a king, yet he is not seeking sub- 
jects ; though he is a creator, he is not seeking his 
creatures merely, but he is a father seeking his chil- 
dren. Jesus rebukes the unworthy thought that 
prayer is merely a method of getting what we want. 
God knows what we want before we ask him. Prayer 
is the loving intercourse of a child with his Heavenly 
Father. We have not learned the full value of it, if 
only a sense of want or the pressure of duty sends us 
to our knees before God. How would our earthly pa- 
rents think of us, if we never sought their presence 
except because we wanted something from them, or 
in the cold, formal performance of an obligation. It 
is as children they want us to come. And so it seems 
that Jesus teaches here that the suppliant is welcome 
as a child. To supply our need is not the chief reason 
why God wants us to come to him. He will be to us 
more than we need — our Preserver, Guide, Comforter, 
Savior — infinite attributes shall minister to us, and 
he himself will serve us — but he desires from us, not 
so much petitions, as the loving rocognition of him as 
" Our Father in Heaven." u Behold what manner of 
love the Father hath bestowed upon us," not that he 
blesses us and supplies our wants, but " that we should 
be called the sons of God." This is the richest, best 



258 West Virginia Pulpit. 

thing infinite love could give us. All blessing is con- 
tained in that fellowship with God w r hich finds its 
expression in the word "Father." 

Jesus has taught us to go to God in the way he him- 
self went, for he desires that the glory and strength 
of his human life may be shared by us. The filial 
spirit permeates his devotions. The word "Father/ 7 
is again and again upon his lips, and seldom is any 
other name used. In the agony of Gethsemane, and 
in the bitterness of the Cross, as well as in more peace- 
ful seasons, he uses the same tender word. Only once 
do we find him omitting it altogether. On the Cross, 
when the agonies of more than death were upon him, 
when the Father's face was for a little time hidden, at 
that hour the like to which was never known before, 
nor can ever come again, he cried out, " My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?"• But soon the 
clouds dispersed, and the dear familiar word "Father" 
is heard again as he commends his soul to His keep- 
ing. And so he has taught us to follow him in com- 
munion with God here, that we may ripen for that 
life beyond, where it shall be forever perfected. 

Faith in God necessarily accompanies the idea of 
his Fatherhood. It is natural for a child to trust a 
father. If doubts arise they come from the idea of 
imperfections in the person and not in the relation. 
But God is perfect, and if we regard him as a Father, 
we believe that he will be to us all that is implied in 
that relation. Jesus develops this idea when he says ; 
"If ye being evil (imperfect and limited in power and 
purpose) know how to give good gifts to your children, 
now much more shall your Heavenly Father give 
good things to them that ask him." The difficulties 
of faith arise from being at too great a distance from 
God. Jesus places us close to him in prayer that we 
may trust him with all the simplicity and unrestrain- 
ed confidence of a child. To leave all in his hands, to 
take from him whatever he sends, to do his will with- 
out question, is the trust we are taught in the words 
of our text. All the infinite perfections of his nature, 
instead of dazzling and repelling us by their glory, 
unite in attracting us and inviting the fullest confi- 



Prayee. 259 

dence, when accompanied by the idea that he is our 
Father. If with Christ we can say " Father," it will 
be natural to say " Thy will be done." Resignation 
is not an easy thing. It is more common, perhaps, to 
feel that we ought to be resigned than to feel that we 
are. To call that good that seems only evil, to believe 
that the barb that pierces the heart is pressed by a 
friendly hand, is a triumph not lightly won. It is 
only when persons are very near and dear to us that 
we can believe that their seeming cruelty is really 
kindness. And so it seems to me, that God expects 
cheerful resignation in the bitter experiences of life 
from his children only. The recognition of Divine 
sovereignty may produce hopeless non-resistance, or 
perplexed helplessness — an acquiescence that is born 
of despair. The faith and resignation Jesus has taught 
are such as a child freely and naturally has. There 
is no strain in submitting all to our perfect Father. 
It is not a violent wrench and distortion of the soul 
to bring it into harmony with an inscrutable Provi- 
dence, but confidence in one who is bound to us and 
our interests by the closest ties. It is grasping the 
Divine hand tighter in the darkness — nestling closer 
to God in the storm. 

Jesus teaches us in the text, what is the comprehen- 
siveness of prayer. The care of a father is as wide as 
the necessities of the child. In filial communings we 
may tell him all that concerns us. This is a blessed 
thought and a valuable one if we use it. We need 
sympathy — some loving friend to whom we may tell 
all our trials and cares. We often seek some friendly 
human bosom and try to unburden ourselves. But 
human friends are not always near, not always sym- 
pathetic. Besides each one has his own trials and is 
not always ready to help us to bear ours. 

" Go, bury thy sorrow, 

The world has its share." 

But where shall we take it if not to our Father in 
heaven. His ear is not weary nor his heart too full 
to receive us. Oh, if we would learn the full meaning 
of Divine sympathy for us and with us, and lay our 



260 West Virginia Pulpit. 

whole life before God in daily prayer we would realize 
that 

" The heart of the Eternal 
Is most wonderfully kind." 

Then instead of burdening the world with our com- 
plaints : 

" Our lives would be all sunshine 
In the sweetness of our Lord." 

The revelation of Divine Fatherhood, as the basis 
of communion with God, shows the real meaning and 
power of prayer. Why does God regard what we say 
to him and how does he answer are questions that 
perplex many minds, and prove stumbling blocks in 
the way to the mercy seat. The answer to these in- 
quiries is not supplied by human reason. Jesus lets 
the light in on the whole subject when he says, 
" When ye pray, say 'Our Father.' " If man is but a 
factor in nature — a part of the great whole of the uni- 
verse, and of no greater importance than any of the 
others — if he is but the result of natural law, and of no 
greater dignity than any other organized or unorgan- 
ized body, then, indeed, there is no prayer and its phi- 
losophy is the philosophy of a delusion. If man is not 
closer to God than a sheep, then there is no reason that 
man should pray and the sheep not. From any plane 
lower than that on which man is placed, in the teach- 
ing of Christ, it may be that prayer is impossible. 
But if man is God's child, then prayer is not only pos- 
sible but necessary. Shall not the child commune with 
the parent? The working out of parental love and 
care and the response of filial love and trust demand 
that intercourse between the human and the Divine 
which we call prayer. If in our thought we debase 
humanity and obscure Deity, we create difficulties 
that we cannot overcome. In the Bible, God and 
man are brought very close together. Man is wander- 
ing, but the Father has not withdrawn himself and 
left him to perish, but is seeking him; man is re- 
bellious, but the Father's love will win him; man is de- 
graded and lost, but the Father's attributes unite to 
save and ennoble him. In view of all these facts 
prayer solves mysteries instead of making them. 

The power of prayer, in the divine economy, pre- 



Prayer. 261 

sents no special difficulty from this stand-point. What 
wonder is it that the child's cries move the parents' 
heart? Would we not wonder if they were unheeded ? 
The appeal to parental love is the strongest that can 
be made. Evidence of this is abundant all around us. 
Birds and beasts forget their fears and brave all dan- 
gers to answer the cries of their offspring. It is the 
cry of helpless dependence and stirs the deeps of paren- 
tal nature. From this we learn what is the divine 
idea of Fatherhood. And when we take this idea, and 
divest it of the limitations and weaknesses, with which 
it is associated in the creature, and link it with the 
perfection of the Divine nature the power of prayer is 
only measured by the wants of him who prays. Prayer 
in this sense is omnipotent. There is nothing incred- 
ible in this. The wonder is that we " should be called 
the sons of God," but not that as children we can 

"Move the arm that moves the world 
To bring salvation down." 

The sufficient answer to all doubts, fears and scep- 
tical questionings regarding prayer is, " God is my Fa- 
ther." 

The world of matter and of law is arranged on this 
basis. The fatherhood of God is not an afterthought 
that is out of harmony with the constitution of things. 
The world is built in harmony with this relation of 
man to God and it is governed in the same w T ay. It 
is an unfathomable, inexhaustible truth that "All 
things work together for good to them that love God." 
"All things are yours," says the inspired Apostle. 

Among the forces of the universe, prayer is one of the 
most powerful : it has helped to form the past, it in- 
fluences the present, and modifies the future. In its 
true spirit of filial communion, it is a note to which 
the whole universe vibrates in responsive chords. 
The difficulties that seem to surround prayer vanish 
as we follow this thought of divine Fatherhood which 
Jesus has given us, and there grows upon us an over- 
whelming sense of its glorious dignity and power. 
In the language of Chrysostom, we feel to say : 
"Oh prayer! blessed prayer! Thou art the unwea- 



262 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ried conqueror of human woes, the firm foundation of 
human happiness, the source of ever during joy, the 
mother of philosophy ! The man who can pray truly, 
though languishing in extreme indigence, is richer 
than all beside ; whilst the wretch who never bowed 
the knee, though proudly seated as the monarch of 
nations, is of all men most destitute." 

0, that each of us may be thus enriched by enjoying 
the privileges and blessings of the " child of a king." 
The words of the Lord's Prayer have long been famil- 
iar to us. Have we the spirit ? What is the real mean- 
ing of the words " our Father" to us ? Do we go to God 
in the spirit of them and commune with him as his 
children ? We need the Father's sympathy and help. 
We need the ennobling truth in our lives, that we are 
allied to the divine that by its influence we may seek 
to be " holy as God is holy." What grand possibili- 
ties, what dignity, what greatness are opened before 
us. The noblest there is in us is developed and all 
littleness of feeling rebuked by the thought that God 
is our father. He who fully understands our needs in- 
structs usthus to commune with him. The way is open 
for all. Jesus says, " I am the way, no man cometh 
unto the father but by me." Let us remember that our 
enjoyments of the blessings which flow from Divine 
Fatherhood depend largely upon our possession of 
the responsive spirit of sonship. The filial spirit is 
the Christly spirit. Those who are in Christ are lifted 
from a position of alienation and estrangement from 
God to the plane of filial love and communion. And 
spiritual strength and progress depend upon the meas- 
ure of the spirit and nature of him, who in all his 
life of varied experiences of joy, sorrows, temptations 
and labors, could look into the face of God in undis- 
turbed calmness of soul and say, " I am not alone for 
the Father is with me." The love of God is drawing 
all to the divine salvation and fellowship. Those 
who are in sin and far away from him may resolve 
and say, " I will arise and go to my father," feeling 
sure that he will welcome them. He will rejoice over 
them, saying, " This, my child, was dead, and is alive 
again ; and was lost and is found." Those who have 



Prayer. 263 

realized the peace of forgiven sin, may press closer to 
the Father's bosom. It remains for eternity to un- 
fold the fulness and inconceivable richness of the des- 
tiny of the child of God. But Jesus has taught us to 
say, " Our Father." There are glorious rights and 
priveleges to be enjoyed in this life. " Beloved, now 
are we the children of God." What can we ever be 
that is nearer to God than children ? Whatever the 
future may disclose, we cannot conceive that our 
union with God will be closer than it is now. When 
we shall see him face to face, when the infirmities and 
limitations of this mortal flesh shall be removed, in 
the highest exaltations our natures may receive, we 
cannot conceive of our getting farther than the rela- 
tion expressed in the words " Our Father." It may 
mean more to us, as we explore its heights and depths, 
but will never contain more than it does now. Let 
us go on, day by day, to find out its riches. This is 
what Jesus meant in giving us the words to use in 
prayer. Prayer is to be our daily spiritual exercise, 
and its meaning and value are to be the daily unfold- 
ing in our lives and hearts of the inexhaustible bless- 
ings contained in the Fatherhood of God. There is 
nothing he desires for us so much as that every barrier 
may be removed and that the love of his fatherly 
heart may flow to us, with unchecked and unbroken 
stream. He says to each one : 

" Child of my love, lean hard ! 
Nor fear to weary him who made, upholds, 
And guides the universe. Yet cioser come, 
Thou art not near enough. Thy care, thyself, 
Lay both on me, that I may feel my child 
Reposing on my heart. Thou lovest me ? 
I doubt it not; then loving me, lean hard," 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



One of the rising preachers of the West Virginia Conference 
— indeed, one of the foremost men of that body at this time, is 
the Rev. L. L. Stewart. He was born in Allegheny connty, Pa., 
in 1845. When he was about fourteen years of age his parents 
moved to Wood county, West Virginia, and engaged in farming. 
Here the subject of this sketch remained, working upon the 
farm, and attending school, at various places, until 1870, when 
he was received into the West Virginia Conference on proba- 
tion. At this particular point in his life, with the good Jeremy 
Taylor he could truly say : 

" They gave to thee 

Myrrh, frankincense, and gold ; 
But, Lord, with what shall I 
Present myself before thy majesty, 

Whom thou redeemest when I was sold ? 
I've nothing but myself, and scarce that neither ; 

Vile dirt and clay ; 

Yet it is soft and may 
Impression take. 
Accept it Lord, and say, this thou hadst rather ; 
Stamp it, and on this sordid metal make 

Thy holy image, and it shall outshine 

The beauty of the golden mine." 

Brother Stewart's first Circuit was in Marshall county, called 
Marshall Circuit. It was upon the broad fields of that delightful 
county that he first proclaimed the unsearchable richesof Christ. 
The spirit of revival prevailed less or more, at all of his appoint- 
ments, and the year closed grandly. This, in fact, could be said 
of all Brother Stewart's appointments. A man of ability, earn- 
estness, energy, and reliability always succeeds. 

His next appointment was at Moundsville ; next, Ben wood ; 
next, Point Pleasant ; next, Clifton ; next, Fairmont. All these, 
but one, were Stations ; and Brother Stewart remained at most 
of them the full term allowed by the laws of the Church. He is 
at present Presiding Elder of the Clarksburg District, which 
broad field affords an excellent opportunity for the display of 
his talents as a Gospel minister. 

Brother Stewart is a preacher of great originality. He does 
his own thinking, and always expresses himself with freedom 
and force. He can creditably fill any appointment in the Church. 



SERMON XXI 



BY 



REV. L. L. STEWART, P. E. 



Theme:— GOD SEEN IN HIS WOEKS. 

Text : — " All thy works shall praise thee. 0, Lord, and thy 
saints shall bless thee." — Psalm cxlv : 10. 

Among the thirty-five or forty writers of the Bible, 
no one referred to the works of God, so frequently and 
eloquently, as did the Psalmist. In them he saw his 
goodness, wisdom and power. His early pastoral life 
among the hills and valleys of Judea, doubtless had 
much to do in exciting his love for the pure and beau- 
tiful, as seen in nature. To qualify him to become 
the expositor of the heart's most deep, sacred and 
glowing emotions, God seemed to place him under a 
variety of circumstances. He spoke for universal hu- 
manity. When standing beneath the midnight sky, 
blazing with constellations, he but echoed the senti- 
ment which has been common to all devout thinking 
men, when he exclaimed, c< The heavens declare the 
glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handi- 
work. On another occasion we hear him say : " The 
works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them 
that have pleasure therein." 

Next to the study of God's word, nothing is more 

instructive, interesting and elevating, than the study 

of his works. Paul declared u For the invisible things 

of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 

18 



266 West Virginia Pulpit. 

being understood by the things that are made, even 
his eternal power and God-head." Not that nature is 
a sufficient revelation of God. Some knowledge of 
both nature and revelation, is essential to a proper 
conception of his character and attributes. God re- 
veals himself to men in three ways. Through his 
Word, his works, and by an immediate manifestation 
of himself through the agency of the Holy Ghost. 
These three, instead of conflicting, or in any way con- 
tradicting each other, illustrate and confirm each oth- 
ers testimony, just as the sense of seeing confirms the 
testimony of hearing, and as the sense of feeling per- 
fects the perception of external realities. Paley, who 
adduced his strongest argument for the existence of 
God, from design, as everywhere manifested in his 
works, has said, " If one train of thought be more de- 
sirable than another, it is that which regards the phe- 
nomena of nature with a constant reference to a su- 
preme intelligent author." This he considered as the 
foundation of all that is religious. 

God is seen, not only in his Word, but also in his 
works. From the tiny dew-drops — jewelry of the 
morning, up to the Pleiades with its sweet influence. 
From the incipient rill as it bursts from the moun- 
tain's brow, to the broad Pacific. From the mighty 
mountains, as they stand out like silent sentinels 
against the sky, to the smiling valleys, "stretching in 
pensive quietness between." From the humble hyssop 
upon the wall, to the cedar of Lebanon, rocked by the 
storms of centuries. From all these come a chorus 
of praise, and revelations of him, who has created and 
sustains all these by the word of his power. Now in 
tuneful numbers, now in eloquent voices, nature bears 
witness of her Creator's praise. 

To those who believe in God, and try to see him in 
his works, nothing can be without significance. From 
the minutest to the mightiest, there are manifesta- 
tions of his wisdom, power and love. The great vol- 
ume is ever unrolled before us, so that he who runs 
may read. For the old and young, the rich and poor, 
the wise and the foolish, there are lessons, and he must 
be a dull scholar indeed who cannot learn something, 



God Seen in His Works. 267 

and appreciate the sentiment expressed in the lines : 
"There are tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 
sermons in stones, and good in everything," 

Who ever stood by Niagara, and looked upon its 
plunging, whirling, seething waters, and listened to 
the thundering cataract as it lifted up its eternal an- 
them to God, and was not impressed with the might 
and majesty of him who pours out the rivers from their 
fountains ? Or who ever stood upon the ocean's shore, 
and gazed out upon the broad expanse of water, with- 
out thinking of the infinitude of God, and the power 
of him who holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand ? 
Or who ever from some lofty peak amid alpine scenes 
viewed the mountains as they lifted themselves above 
the clouds, covered with eternal snows, and was not 
over-awed with the majesty and magnitude of God's 
works, and the power and care of him who has weigh- 
ed the mountains in his balances? Now, the thought 
of God, as seen in his works, is inspiring and eleva- 
ting. 

The contemplation of great objects tends to quietness 
of soul. The sense of the vastness of the sea, the grand- 
eur of a towering mountain, the measureless concave of 
the midnight sky blazing with constellations, each of 
these soothes and settles the agitated mind, and fills 
the soul with sublime musings of him who notes the 
fall of a sparrow, as well as superintends the destiny 
of worlds. The devout Christian is ever ready to ex- 
claim, the maker of all these "is my Father and my 
God;" and yet there are persons, who go through this 
world without seeing any beauty, or hearing any har- 
mony. In speaking of the world, they call it, "This 
howling wilderness," "low grounds of sin and folly," 
"vale of tears," &c. It is a familiar utterance, that 
this world is full of sin. We should not forget the 
distinction, that sin is not so much in the world, as in 
us. When we are as pure as the snow, and as inno- 
cent as the laughing waters, the world becomes a scene 
of beauty and joy; we then realize the words of the 
prophet, " The mountains and hills break forth into 
singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands." 
And yet we are gravely informed — even by divines, 



268 West Virginia Pulpit. 

that to take any other than a sober view of this world, 
and life — is unwise and superficial. Be it so, I would 
rather be considered superficial than ungrateful ; 
and surely nothing can be more ungrateful, than to 
pass by the wondrous works of God, without consider- 
ation ; to be surrounded with comfort and beauty, and 
yet, have no appreciation of them. Suppose a father, 
at great expense and care, should build a splendid pal- 
ace, and fill it with every luxury and comfort, should 
carefully and wisely lay out the grounds, filling them 
with rare trees and flowers, and after everything is 
nicely arranged should take his children to this home, 
and say : "Now children all this is yours, yours to en- 
joy, yours to preserve, yours to possess;" and after ex- 
amining the well furnished departments, they should 
begin to complain, and say : u O, this howling wilder- 
ness," " What a miserable place to live in," " What 
a hard lot is ours." Would that show a feeling of ap- 
preciation and gratitude ? 

This world is a palace which our Father has reared 
and furnished for the comfort and delight of his chil- 
dren. All his works shall praise him, and his saints are 
called upon to bless him. Look at the great masters 
of art, Raphael and Angelo, who almost made the can- 
vas, on which they painted, throb with life. These 
men have never had superiors in art. Though cen- 
turies have passed away, their works have lost none 
of their charms or beauty. Age only adds to the in- 
terest, with which they are studied. There is an in- 
tellectual and moral grandeur that centers in these 
triumphs of human genius, indicating the greatness 
of the mind that conceived and executed them. But 
behind the picture was the man ; the picture was but 
an expression of his thoughts. So, as we look out up- 
on this world filled with beauty and harmony, we see 
an expression of our Father's thoughts. In the soft 
zephyrs that come to us, fraught with the fragrance of 
unfolding flowers ; in the genial sunshine and gentle 
dew, we have an expression of God's gracious, loving 
thoughts. In the deep-toned thunder ; in the heaving 
earthquake ; in the burning volcano, and in the terri- 
ble cyclone sweeping across our western country, lay- 



God Seen in His Works. 269 

ing homes and cities in desolation — in all these we 
have an expression of God's terrible thoughts. In the 
waving harvests, the luscious fruit upon the trees, the 
rich, ripe clusters upon the vines, and the golden corn 
in the shock, we have an expression ot God's bounte- 
ous, prudential thoughts. God could have made this 
world without a singing bird, or a gorgeous flower; 
but instead of withholding any beauty, or in any way 
stinting his works, he has scattered around us, and 
for every sense, a profusion of beauty and sweetness. 
For, be it known, that " many a flower blushes unseen, 
and wastes its fragrance on the desert air." 

The more we study the works of God, the more in- 
tense and intelligent will be our love for him. Did 
not Christ direct the attention of his hearers to the 
world of nature around them ? From the blushing 
rose, to the silken lily, that nightly drink their cup 
of nectar from the hand of God, we see more beautiful 
garments than Solomon ever wore, procured without 
sowing or reaping, or spinning. Thus he who spoke 
as never man spake, the great teacher sent from God, 
seized upon passing events, to illustrate and enforce 
his spiritual lessons. The sparrow, the lily, the grass, 
and vine, all furnished themes for his discourses. If 
it were not beneath the dignity of Christ to speak of 
the grass, the birds, and flowers, in his sermons, who 
are we modern preachers, that we can improve upon 
the style of our Divine Master? 

Some men's highest ideal of a " Gospel sermon," is 
one that deals with the first transgression in Eden, 
or that condemns the sins of the antediluvians, or 
hurls anathemas at the Jews. Is it any wonder, that 
the modern pulpit, in the estimation of some, is dry 
and stale ? If preachers would apply the Gospel to 
the giant evils of the present age, and seize upon the 
current events of the day, to enforce the truths of the 
Gospel, is it not possible, there would be more inter- 
ested hearers ? " All thy works shall praise thee, 
Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee." 

At this point, we institute the inquiry, How do the 
works of God praise him ? The works of God praise 
him in their obedience to the laws he has imposed 



270 West Virginia Pulpit. 

upon them, and by answering the great ends for 
which they were created. Every useful piece of ma- 
chinery, every production of art, every good book, 
magnify and praise their author. The engine upon 
the railroad, that draws burdens across the continent; 
the ship upon the seas, which bears the commerce of 
cities and states; the proud temples of antiquity — 
all human works in their beauty, permanence and 
utility, praise their makers. 

There seems to be a difference between " praise" 
and "bless, r as expressed by the Psalmist. His works 
are to "praise" him, and his saints are to "bless" 
him. Turning to your dictionary, you will find the 
terms are used interchangably. Yet David recog- 
nized a distinction between the terms. The word 
" bless " is used perhaps in the sense of thanksgiving, 
a spirit of appreciation to be cherished and mani- 
fested by his people, of which inanimate creation is 
incapable. Every good man is a benediction in the 
world ; still he not only blesses God in his holy life, 
but his gratitude finds expression in hymns of praise 
and prayers of thanksgiving. Right here, we find an 
argument for public worship. His people meet in 
the house of the Lord, to publicly bless his name, and 
how often they adopt the language of his servant, and 
say, " Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within 
me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine 
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who crowneth 
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." 
Thus we should call upon all that is within us to 
"bless" his holy name. The distinction between 
" praise " and " bless," as we perceive it, is, that while 
ever} 7 created thing glorifies God in its place, by obe- 
dience to his will, and the purpose of its being. Man 
rises higher, and pronounces for all a general bene- 
diction. Misconceptions of God, have resolved them- 
selves into three historic forms : The Atheistic, Pan- 
theistic, and Theistic. In every age some fragment 
of these creeds have been found. 

First, there is the Atheistic conception of God. 
The Atheist looks out upon the world, with all its 



Goi> Seen in His Works. 271 

beauty and harmony, and finds no place for God, sees 
no evidence of a Supreme overruling Deity. This 
material universe is but the result of laws that are 
eternal and inexorable. You ask the Atheist, how 
came all this order ? He replies, "All these things 
came into existence through the potency of law." 
There was a time when the atoms now composing 
this planet, were floating through space ; they were 
attracted by the law of affinity, and are now held to 
each other by the law of gravitation. Thus the athe- 
ist looks upon this world as being governed by blind 
fate, and man as the helpless victim of law, supreme 
and immutable, with no explanation to life, and no 
quiet haven into which he may at last guide his 
barque. 

At the opposite pole of error (for a reaction from 
one theory generally carries men to the opposite ex- 
treme), is the Pantheistic idea of God. As the Athe- 
ist cannot see any evidence of God, the Pantheist 
sees him in all things. To him nature is God, and 
God is nature. The trouble with the Pantheist is, 
he confounds God with his works, God and matter is 
identical. Let one of its modern, American, disciples 
testify. The late Ralph Waldo Emerson said, " I 
cannot wander into the forest without seeing the 
presence of God flaming from every bush, nor cross 
the common without the thrill of rapture, which 
marks the incoming Deity; nor get out into the open 
fields, without being an inlet for the inrushing tides 
of infinite life." An eloquent passage, but not in 
harmony with revelation. Whenever we accept Pan- 
theism and identify God with his works, we destroy 
his personality, and hence contradict his own word. 

Passing by these extremes,we come, in the next place, 
to the Theistic conception of God, which is, that a per- 
sonal God. by a definite act created this world, and 
upholds and governs all things ; that he never has for 
a moment withdrawn his presence and care from a 
single atom. The Bible reveals to us a personal God 
who is above law, and while he is to be seen in his 
works, he is still above them. Upon the one hand, we 
are not the helpless victims of law. This world is 



272 West Virginia Pulpit. 

not an orphan asylum, where there is no father to 
hear nor save; and upon the other hand, nature is not 
our God, but above the tangible objects we see and 
feel here, there is an infinite Father in whose pres- 
ence there is fullness of joy. 

I now call attention to two propositions : 
First, the works of God manifest his wisdom. It 
must be apparent to the most casual observer, that 
the wisdom of God is displayed in the adaptation of 
means to ends. In all animal and plant life, from the 
simplest to the most complex, there is a plan for each 
— a complicated adaptation of means to ends. Pass 
from zone to zone, and see the varied wealth of forms. 
Each one a study, each one having some peculiar con- 
dition of life. No ingenuity of man, nor of all men 
could have conceived of the work, as it has been done, 
and when seen, no one can improve upon the work. 
There is not sufficient mechanical genius in the world 
to institute such a system, at once revealing the wis- 
dom and goodness of God. 
This brings me to the second proposition : 
The works of God manifest his goodness. We see the 
goodness of God in the provisions he has made for our 
comfort, and welfare. Many of these were here prior 
to our existence. How he has provided for us during 
all these weeks, months, and years of our lives. We 
have been fed at his table, clothed at his wardrobe, and 
slaked our thirst at crystal streams flowing at our feet. 
The divine thoughtfulness is all about us for good. 
He keeps us whether awake or asleep. The beautiful 
words of our Savior come to us with peculiar force, 
" Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither 
do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly 
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than 
they ?" As much as to say : If the Father's care is 
extended to the fowls of the air, will he not also care 
for his children, whom he has created in his own im- 
age, redeemed with his own blood ? No wonder, the 
Psalmist in meditating upon the goodness of God, 
should exclaim, "How great is his goodness !" " O 



God Seen in His Works. 273 

taste and see that the Lord is good." There is more 
truth than poetry in the lines of Pope, 

" For me kind nature wakes her genial power, 
Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower ; 
Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew, 
The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew, 
For me the mine, a thousand treasures brings, 
For me health gushes from a thousand springs." 
Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me, rise; 
My footstool earth, my canopy the skies." 

I have not selected this subject merely for the pleas- 
ure of it, nor to excite, in any one, a superficial love 
for the works of God. I trust I have been prompted 
by a better motive, governed by a higher aim. My 
purpose has been to bring God nearer to you ; to assist 
in forming a proper conception of his character and 
attributes. I do not believe in worshipping nature, 
but I do believe in a recognition of God in his works. 
I hold, it would be sheer madness, and moral insanity 
for a man to study the architecture of this world, and 
ignore the architect ; to endeavor to read the great 
poem of nature, and not seek to know the author ; to 
admire creation, and not see the Creator ; to be charmed 
with roses and lillies, and not admire him, who is rep- 
resented in the Scriptures as the "Rose of Sharon," 
and the " Lilly of the Valley." " All thy works shall 
praise thee Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee." 
Amen and amen. 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Hev. Charles P. Masden, son of John and Mary Masden, 
was born in Kent county, Delaware, in the year 1843. His pa- 
rents were Methodists, and at the early age of sixteen, he was 
converted to God at a camp meeting near his early home. At 
the age of eighteen, and while yet at school, he was licensed to 
preach the Gospel. The next year he joined the Philadelphia 
Conference, and was sent, as junior preacher, to Salisbury Cir- 
cuit, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he spent two 
years in extensive revival work. His next appointment was 
Dorchester Circuit, where he remained one year. 

The first Station, which he was called to fill, was Cambridge, 
the most important point for Methodism on the Eastern Shore — 
remaining the full term of three years. He next served Fletcher 
Church, West Philadelphia, and Central Church, Philadelphia. 
At both these appointments he preached to crowded houses, 
and began to attract attention, throughout the city, as a popular 
pulpit orator. 

When the distinguished Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage left the Sec- 
ond Kef ormed Church, Philadelphia, to take charge of the Taber- 
nacle in Brooklyn, the congregation he had served so long and 
well, unanimously called Brother Masden to succeed him ; and 
in this church, one of the largest in the city, he remained as pas- 
tor for eight consecutive years, always preaching to crowded 
houses. During these eight years, he received four hundred 
and fifty members into the Church upon confession of faith ; 
and in the meantime edited a popular religious newspaper, 
which had an extensive circulation, for the time, throughout 
the country. The amount of work done by Brother Masden 
while serving this large congregation, was amazing ; and yet, he 
stood up under it, and was always found at his post of duty. 

Being converted, educated, and by temperament a Methodist, 
and realizing that for the sake of health and prolonged useful- 
ness he must change his Church relation, he, therefore, re-en- 
tered the ranks of the Itinerancy, and was stationed by Bishop 
Simpson, in 1879, at Fourth Street M. E. Church, Wheeling, 
West Virginia, the wealthiest and most influential Church in the 
State. He remained in Wheeling the full term of three years, 
and the highest compliment I can give him is to state, that his 
audiences grew larger each year he remained ; and had it been in 
the power of the Church to have done so, the entire membership 



Charles P. Masden, 275 

of it would have made him their perpetual pastor. He is a 
man of positive parts, and is among the most popular ministers 
of the day. 

I subjoin the following personal notice published in the 
Wheeling Daily Intelligencer of November 27th, 1882 : 

" The Rev. C. P. Masden, who was for three years pastor of 
Fourth Street M. E. Church, this city, and went from here, in 
October, to Scran ton, Pa., has received and accepted a call to 
the pastorate of Union M. E. Church, St. Louis. This will give 
him a much larger field of operation than he could have at Scran- 
ton, or indeed anywhere else outside the large cities. Dr. Mas- 
den is yet a young man, but has made for himself a reputation 
as a minister which has extended far and wide. He succeeded 
Dr. Talmage as pastdr of a German Reform Church in Philadel- 
phia, where he remained eight years. From there he came to 
Wheeling and remained a full term at Fourth Street Church. 
In both places he sustained himself as one of the most forcible 
and attractive preachers of the day." 



SERMON XXII. 

BY 

REV. CHARLES P. MASDEN. 



Theme :— AN AWAKENED SOUL SOLVING THE PKOB- 
LEM OF LIFE. 

Text: — " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" — AcTsix: 6. 

The history of the text is familiar to all. Already 
the scene has passed before you — Saul, of Tarsus, on 
his way to Damascus, with authority from the high 
priest to persecute the Church and to imprison Chris- 
tians — the light from heaven, above the brightness 
of the noonday sun, that fell upon his pathway — not 
only a light but a voice saying, " Saul, Saul, why per- 
secutest thou me ?" — not only a light and a voice, but 
also a personage. "Who art thou, Lord?" "lam 
Jesus, whom thou persecutest." 

This whole phenomenon resolves itself into this 
Scriptural explanation, that Christ was surrounding 
his Church and protecting her from her foes, and 
said to the bloody persecutor : " Thus far shalt thou 
go and no farther." It was Jehovah surrounding the 
camp of Israel. It was Christ arresting the sinner, 
disarming the warrior, and enlisting the conquered 
man as a champion in his own service. " Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do ?" 

If you will analyze the text in connection with its 
history, you will find it contains two general princi- 
ples, which are embodied in the theme announced. 
First, It is the language of an awakened soul — an 
honest search for light — the cry for the Infinise. At 



The Problem of Life. 277 

certain flowers point always their painted petals to 
the sun, and move with him in his daily arc from 
east to west, governed by a certain law deep within 
the life of the plants, which draws them naturally 
toward the pleasant light and warmth by which they 
must live and grow, so do souls awakened by the Holy 
Ghost, minds quickened by the truth, turn toward 
the Cross of Christ, test the great facts of Christianity, 
and search for the highest possible life. 

The query : u Lord, what," &c, is the expression 
of an awakened soul. Secondly, the text contains 
the essential conditions of a successful life, viz : con- 
sciousness of a life mission ; right choice of a voca- 
tion ; the power of individuality, and the recognition 
of the divine commission. These four points are em- 
bodied in the text, and are plainly taught by the 
phraseology. 

i. the consciousness of a life mission or a real- 
ization OF WHAT LIFE IS FOR. " LORD — TO DO." 

Life is for doing. This world is to be cleared of its 
briars and thorns, improved, cultivated, and restored 
to Eden beauty. Humanity is to be instructed, ele- 
vated, comforted, redeemed, saved — till man shall be 
the crowned saint in glory. This is the design of 
God and mission of Christianity. 

This world is not a floundered ship, from which we 
are to rescue and save a few of the drowning passen- 
gers by the Gospel life-boats, and then leave her to 
sink into oblivion; but rather a grand old domain, 
in ruins, it is true — its temples thrown down — its 
lands run to waste — its beauty defaced — its inhabit- 
ants cursed. The duty of man under the mission and 
reign of the Gospel is to rebuild the walls, reconstruct 
the temples, cultivate the gardens, sow the fields, 
plant vineyards, clear forests, bridge rivers, tun- 
nel mountains, join the hands of continents by tele- 
graphic wires, erect schools, build churches, improve 
civilization, advance religion, save men's souls and 
restore this earth to its pristine beauty, and make it 
the temporary home of redeemed man. 



278 West Virginia Pulpit. 

What is man here for ? What is his earthly mis- 
sion ? How ipust he live and act toward this wilder- 
ness through which his path leads him to his eternal 
destination? Shall he be a plunderer of the world? 
Rob it ? Get all he can from it ? Pluck the flowers, and 
eat the fruit, and suck it dry and leave it barren ? If 
so, what shall become of those who shall follow ? Pos- 
terity would have a rough road, and this world would 
become a dreary Sahara, or wilderness of misery and 
death. Nay — man is to be a builder, a planter, a sow- 
er, a workman, a doer. This world is to be bettered 
by our having lived in it, both in a material and mor- 
al sense. Human life, then, is not for plundering the 
world, but for improving it. Not to rob it, but robe 
it. Not to plant thorns and sow nettles in it, but to 
plant flowers and sow the seeds of immortality. 

The general sense of responsibility exists in a 
greater or less degree in all minds. This is evidenced 
by the idea and practice of sacrifice among all na- 
tions. This exists prior to conversion, and is the 
basis or ground work of conversion. But there must 
be more than this general sense of responsibility — 
there must be personal conviction — a realization of a 
divine call. Conversion is a divine call. When 
once a man's soul is touched with the live coal from off 
the altar, he awakes to the fact that life is not for 
mere enjoyment, but for doing — not for idle dreams, 
but for heroic deeds — not for aimless drifting, but for 
steady sailing. 

While in the country, not long ago, I saw trees of 
various sizes and colors — flowers of various odors and 
hues — weedsof all sizesand shapes, and grassof different 
kinds, ail growing in the same soil. I said, " Why is 
it that the same elements of soil produce this varie- 
ty?'' And the only answer I could find was that God 
was superintending the whole, and that each tree, 
flower, weed, and blade of grass had its mission in 
life. It was so. The tree was not for fragrance, nor 
the flower for shade. The weed could not charm the 
beholder with beauty, nor the flower so effectually ab- 
sorb the gasses. The grass could not make fuel, nor 
the tree nutriment for the beast. Each had its mis- 



The Problem op Life. 279 

sion, and without murmuring or dissatisfaction each 
place was filled. that men would as naturally and 
as truly fill their places in life — whether it be preach- 
ing the Gospel,, administering civil law, practicing 
medicine, selling goods, tilling the soil, manufactur- 
ing articles, building houses or patiently suffering 
for Christ, which is the highest and most Christ-like 
mission of all. 

In many an humble cottage, or alley, or court, you 
may find the child of affliction, with but few wants, 
more contented than those in worldly strife. No mur- 
mur — no complaint — thankful for water and bread — 
with simple faith in God, and fulfilling a mission you 
and I would shrink from, and men of valor would 
shun. Even the babe of a few days, that came in 
loveliness and cast a sunbeam of joy in the home, and 
then faded so soon, had its mission, and often has done 
more to thaw selfish hearts and draw parents to hea- 
ven than a long and rugged life. Every human life, 
then, is a divine plan. Every one has a mission to 
this world. So fall in line — stand in your place — do 
not envy another. No place so grand for you as your 
own — none you could fill so well. None could make 
you as useful and happy. Without this conviction of 
a personal life mission, your life will be aimless, and 
consequently a failure — a drift life, tossed by the 
waves of circumstances and tide of events, driven by 
the winds of doubt, no anchor, no rudder, no compass. 
Some day the ship will be wrecked. Aim at God's 
glory. Take your bearings carefully. Know where 
you are going. One mistake may wreck unnumbered 
barks that follow in your wake. A wrong direction 
or bias may land you at hell's gloomy portals, instead 
of the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem. 

II. THE SECOND ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF A SUCCESSFUL 
LIFE, AS GIVEN IN THE TEXT IS I RIGHT CHOICE OF 
A VOCATION. "LORD, WHAT?" 

While all men may have a general sense of respon- 
sibility, and while an awakened soul may be conscious 
of a life mission, yet the difficult thing is to know for 
what we are best suited. At what we can best sue- 



280 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ceed. In what direction we are to spend our life ener- 
gies so as to bring in the largest returns to us, and the 
greatest revenue to the glory of God. " Lord, what ?" 
There are four things which should regulate the choice 
of a vocation in life : 

1. Qualification or natural adaptation. You may tell 
me that work, industry and perseverance will fit 
and qualify persons for positions in life which they 
were before unable to fill. I admit the developing 
power of work. You will tell me of the necessity 
and sanctifying influence of the second birth. I ad- 
mit its importance, yet a great deal depends on the 
first. I would give due credit to work and to divine 
grace, yet natural capacity greatly determines the 
question of success. 

Natural adaptation, combined with work and drill, 
will make the successful life. It would require a great 
deal of work to make a round ball fit a square hole, 
and the fit can never be a graceful one. It would re- 
quire considerable education to train a dog to fly or a 
fish to run. So it will require wasted energy and time 
to fit men for places for which they have no natural 
adaptation. 

This world is full of misplaced men. " The pulpit 
has some that belong by nature to the blacksmith 
shop. The plow has lost an excellent hand, and the 
bar has gained a dupe. Some physicians who are very 
successful in repairing health, would have been also 
successful in repairing houses." 

This is one reason why so many men fail of success. 
They are in the wrong places. Now, how are we to 
know for what men are best fitted, and to what voca- 
tion they are adapted ? 

In some cases the talent is so marked, and the incli- 
nation so strong as to leave no doubt but the majority 
have no such bias, and are unconscious of any special 
qualification. What are they to do ? I will name cer- 
tain guides. 

(1.) The absence of those natural faculties requisite 
for the position, is an evidence that God has not called 
you to fill it. For instance : weak eyes must preclude 
the business of the engraver ; lameness of limb, the 



The Pboblem of Life. 281 

farmer ; lack of voice and sense of sound, the musi- 
cian ; absence of speech or ability to retain thoughts 
and to express them, the orator. 

(2.) Strong aversion to a business is a"guide in the 
choice. I don't mean dislike to exertion, for humani- 
ty is constitutionally lazy, and men must learn to love 
work ; but where there is a positive dislike to any 
vocation, there can be, in the nature of the case, no 
great success. 

(3.) Any deviation from a sense of honor or duty, 
may be evidence that it is not the place for you. No 
difference how attractive the position, how profitable 
the business, if conscience is involved, it is not the 
place for you. 

2. Opportunity. It is often said, " where there is a 
will there is a way." That is not always true. There 
cannot be but one President of the United States, and 
thousands have the will. So opportunity must decide 
in a degree a man's occupation. Opportunity is a 
convenient time or favorable occasion, and, when once 
past, may never come again. Work at the right time, 
and everything assists j^ou. Success is parent of suc- 
cess, and on you go to victory. But if you work at 
the wrong time — let the opportunity pass — you fail. 
Failure gives birth to failure, and your chance is lost. 

" Opportunity is like a favoring breeze springing up 
around a sailing vessel. If the sails are all set, the 
vessel is driven on to port. If the sailors are asleep 
or ashore, and the sails all folded, the breeze may die 
away, and when they would go on, they cannot. Their 
vessel stands as idle as a painted ship on a painted 
sea." So, if you let the opportunity for study and 
mental development pass, if you fail to improve the 
season of youth, you will have no wind to drive the 
bark of life toward the port of success. 

Some people imagine that opportunity is a golden 
chariot, drawn by the steeds of good luck, and some 
day will pause for them as they loiter in the shade on 
life's roadside, and the good angel of fortune will pick 
them up and put them on cushioned seats of dignity, 
or lay them on " flowery beds of ease," and drive on to 
success. Opportunity is no such thing, — but simply 
19 



282 West Virginia Pulpit. 

an open door, with an invitation written above it, 
"Come, for all things are now ready." Within are 
the golden harvest fields, ready for the reaper's sickle. 
How often do we hear people say what they are go- 
ing to do u when their ships come in " — as if oppor- 
tunities would come and unload their treasures in their 
laps — when the fact is, they have no ships out at sea. 
You must first build your ships — cut down the tim- 
ber, hew the beams, frame the hull, erect the mast, 
weave the sails, furnish the anchor, rudder and com- 
pass, and then act as pilot yourself and send them out 
todistant ports, and they will come back richly freight- 
ed with the spices of other lands and the gold of other 
climes, and enrich you for your industry. Improve 
the passing hour — the present opportunity. Let this 
be the motto of your life, " Now is the accepted time." 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men. 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bounded in shallows and in miseries." 

3. Self-interest. There is a great deal" of cant in 
these times about the death of self. That would be 
the greatest misfortune that could come to an indi- 
vidual. Self-hood should never die. You should be a 
separate and distinct person in your thinking, acting, 
working and enjoying. 

Selfishness is a sin. There is a legitimate and sub- 
lime self-interest, and there is a wicked selfishness. 
The forbidden selfishness is the exclusive regard for 
personal interest, supreme self-love, which leads to a 
disregard for others and the welfare of society at large. 
The legitimate and sublime self-interest is acting so 
as to bless humanity, and at the same time result in the 
highest good to the actor. No one has thought deeply 
upon the philosophy of life without observing the re- 
lation of this sublime self-interest and Christian un- 
selfishness which blesses others. A man must learn 
before he can teach. We must have before we can give. 
The general good demands the highest prosperity and 
happiness of the individual. Hence self-interest is 
not to be forgotten in choosing a vocation. A true 
self-interest is in harmony with. Gospel self-denial. If 



The Problem of Life. 283 

you can better your condition and be of equal service 
to society and the world, you do it. It is your duty 
to do it. If it is no violation of conscience and dimi- 
nution of usefulness, and you can get a larger salary, 
it is your duty to accept. 

It seems as if this were intended, in the Divine econ- 
omy, as an incentive to industry and self-elevation. 
You remove human incentives and personal rewards, 
and you dwarf humanity and hinder even the progress 
of religion. 

Take two clergymen. One cares nothing about rep- 
utation or salary — if such a thing be possible — is 
prompted by no earthly ambition — a kind of inhu- 
man being. The other full of aspiration, not willing 
to be second-rate — prompted by a noble ambition. 
Now, who will do the more good? The man who couples 
self-interest and personal success with spiritual good. 
He will take hold of men as well as of God. The 
right hand will be on the throne, the left take hold 
of sinking humanity. 

Take two boys at school. One cares nothing about 
his standing in his class, about prizes or medals. He 
studies not for any huAan motive, but for duty's 
sake, and to be wise in the world to come. Another 
does not intend to be excelled — is determined to take 
the honors of his class. Which will be the better 
student and the more useful man ? Facts answer. 

Hence there is a sublime self-interest which be- 
comes an incentive to duty and activity, and is not 
to be ignored in choosing a vocation. 

4. Usefulness. When the good of humanity is sac- 
rificed to self-interest, it becomes selfishness, and is a 
sin against God and man, and a curse to the individ- 
ual. Usefulness is not to be interfered with, but aug- 
mented by this self-interest. A good soldier does not 
fight battles for the sake of pay, but for his country's 
good, yet he ought to be paid. Doctors like fees, yet 
on the whole they desire to cure the sick. Preachers 
cannot live without salary, yet the first motive in 
preaching must not be dollars and cents. Usefulness 
is not to be sacrificed to self-interest. You must get 



284 West Virginia Pulpit. 

in that position where you can shine the farthest, do 
the most good, reach the largest number. 

These are the questions to be settled : For what 
am I suited? — Qualification. What can I do? — Opportu- 
nity. Will it -pay me ? — Self-interest. Is it best for society, 
the world, andjor GodJs glory — Usejulness. These should 
regulate your choice. 

The traveler in the Alps, walking in the early 
morning and seeing the white clouds changing around 
the mountain-peak, cannot distinguish at a distance 
which is the summit and which the cloud. But after 
the sun climbs the heavens and lifts the wreathing 
vapor, and drawing nearer he sees at last, sharply de- 
fined against the pure sky, the one clear cone. So 
with us. Cloud after cloud delights us in the morn- 
ing of life ; but when the noontide comes, the one 
thing we have to do will stand out boldly and promi- 
nently before us, and challenge effort. Having found 
our life work, let us settle down to steady toil, draw- 
ing our inspiration from the Cross of Christ, and our 
work will be eternal. 

III. THE TEXT INFORMS US T^AT ANOTHER ELEMENT OF 
A SUCCESSFUL LIFE IS " INDIVIDUALITY " — " ME." 

I believe in the committee of one. What is every- 
body's business is nobody's. Individualism is lost 
in associationism. Some men lose their consciences 
in stock companies or corporations. They sin in the 
aggregate, and wash their hands in the waters of in- 
nocency. 

So in churches. The man who does next to noth- 
ing takes credit to himself for what others have done. 
He gives a penny in a collection and then, with an 
air of charming hypocrisy, says, u We raised one 
thousand dollars last Sunday." He never offers a 
prayer and points a sinner to Christ, and says, " We 
have had a gracious revival." Is that honest ? This 
is one of the dangers of our day. We do too much by 
committees, and not enough alone. (The individual, 
conscience, duty, development and reward are blended 
with the great mass.) We cannot repent by commit- 
tees ; we cannot believe by proxy ; we cannot escape 



The Problem of Life. 285 

responsibility by going to church. We will not die 
in companies. One by one we pass over the river. 
We will not be judged as assemblies, but as individ- 
uals. We will wear our own crowns in glory, and 
not appear in borrowed array. 

Hence I am authorized to say, that, any theory of 
life which tends to destroy and not to assert the indi- 
viduality of man, is inhuman and anti-Christian. 
But we must distinguish between the true and false 
individuality. We must remember the double nature 
in man — the soul life and the sensuous life. The lat- 
ter has a seeming life which is actual death, and the 
former a seeming death which is actual life. Hence 
the language of Scripture, u He that seeketh to save 
his life shall loose it, and whosoever shall lose his life 
shall find it." That is the development of the un- 
selfish nature — is life and true individuality. 

The selfish man does not preserve his individuality, 
for his life is sure to grow less. He loses his friends — 
the world drops him, humanity shuns him ; alone he 
lives, alone he dies, and the wind and rain which 
wear out the letters on his tomb, are the only haunters 
of his pretentious grave. Hence, individuality is not 
a great bundle of selfishness — is not a flaunting egot- 
ism — is not personal isolation — but man escaping the 
curse of self involvement and spreading his being 
over the world. The stronger the centre and more in- 
tense the heat and light, the more the radiation. 
Therefore, let me urge you to be yourselves; your pe- 
culiarities or eccentricities, as men call them, are 
your divine endowments for personal use and success. 
Never let another do your duty and wear your laurels. 
" Let no man take thy crown." 

IV. LASTLY, THE TEXT INFORMS US THAT ANOTHER 
ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE IS A 
RECOGNITION OF THE DIVINE COMMISSION. u LORD, 
WHAT WILT THOU ?" 

There is but one sovereign. We are sent. We not 
only owe allegiance to that God over all, but we work at 
his expense and fulfill his orders. We are ambassa- 
dors. We represent the highest court of the universe. 



286 West Virginia Pulpit. 

We are divinely commissioned, as truly as if the di- 
vine hands had been upon our heads, and we had 
heard the voice of Christ saying, "Go, preach the 
Gospel, till the ground, build houses, navigate the 
seas, weave cloth, teach the young — 'whatsoever ye 
do, do all to the glory of God.' " Never forget this 
fact, " sent of the Lord.' 7 The absence of this realiza- 
tion is an explanation of the dissatisfactions in life, 
and the jealousy and strife for positions. Let a young 
man start in life with this conviction that he is working 
for eternity — that the eye of God is upon him, and 
every act will be significant. Life will be intensified, 
doubled, magnified under the inspiration. Don't for- 
get your authority, God's will; your supply, divine 
power. Write his motto on your life, " Sent of the 
Lord,'' and your present position in the world and 
society will become a lofty pedestal, from which your 
light will shine out far and wide to guide and com- 
fort the weary and despondent travelers far down the 
valley and away from home. Your present crosses 
will change from rough hewn beams to flower 
wreathed and rose -garlanded ladders of spiritual as- 
cent, more beautiful and populous than those Jacob 
saw at Bethel. With a consciousness of a life mis- 
sion, with the right choice of a vocation, with true indi- 
viduality, with the realization of the fact, "sent of the 
Lord" — your life cannot be a failure ; for the divine 
purpose, and power, and promises are all pledged, and 
you shall overcome, and be crowned a victor at last. 
Let your past be full of thanksgivings, your present 
full of joy, your future full of welcomes. 

" So live that when thy summons comes 
To join the innumerable caravan, 
That moves to the silent realms of shade, 
Thou go not like the quarry slave 
At night, scourged to his dungeon ; 
But sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, 
Approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery 
Of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. George Edgar Hite, was born September 17th, 1851, in 
Gnyandotte, West Virginia. He was started to school so young 
that he does not remember when he could not read. The most 
of his life, from the time he was first put to school, until he was 
seventeen years of age, was spent in the select and public schools 
of his native town. At this time, through the kindness of a 
friend, a scholarship was secured for him in Marshall Academy, 
now known as the State Normal School of Huntington. Having 
previously chosen the profession of medicine as a calling in life, 
he took an optional course in the Academy. During his stay at 
this school, he paid particular attention to the study of chemis- 
try, in which he made considerable proficiency. 

All the time that could be spared from the studies he was pur- 
suing in school, he assiduously devoted to the study of the usual 
text books which are prescribed for a medical student, before at- 
tending lectures. Eighteen months, or more, he was a student 
of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. A. B. McGinnis of 
Guyandotte — one of the most successful practitioners in the State. 
He very naturally holds the Doctor, who was one of the warmest 
friends of his early youth, in grateful remembrance to this day. 
Brother Hite made rapid progress in the study of his chosen pro- 
fession, — the healing art. His parents not being in circumstan- 
ces to furnish the money for his course at a Medical College, he 
began teaching school to supply himself with the necessary 
funds, with which to complete a thorough medical training, be- 
fore entering upon the practice of his chosen profession. 

Up to this time he had not made any religious profession, or 
connected himself with the Church, though he had been asso- 
ciated, in some way, with the Sabbath School all his life. In Feb- 
ruary 1870, during a revival conducted by Rev. Samuel E. Steele, 
he was brought under a deep and pungent conviction, which, 
after a long and desperate struggle, was followed by his conver- 
sion. He united with the M. E. Church, and at once became an 
active and useful member. He soon attracted the attention of 
his pastor and brethren in the Church, by his gift of prayer, and 
readiness of expression in experience meetings. 

Not long after his conversion, his mind underwent a complete 
change. He lost interest in his medical books, and developed 
an absorbing interest in religious and theological studies. He 
read, with avidity, nearly everything of a religious character 



288 Rev. George E. Hite. 

which came within his reach. At last, in spite of himself, the 
conviction seized his mind that the Great Disposer of men's 
lives designed him not to be a healer of men's bodies, but to car- 
ry to sin-sick humanity the " Balm of Gilead." He was greatly 
troubled at the thought of incurring the displeasure of his old 
friend Dr. McGinnis, who had taken no little pride in his pupil. 
He was also troubled with the idea that to abandon the calling 
for which he had been so long preparing, for one about which 
he knew scarcely aynthing, would subject him to unkind criti- 
cisms. He also dreaded to inform his parents of the change of 
his mind, for he felt convinced that they would strongly oppose 
the idea of his becoming a preacher. These things, together 
with personal difficulties, greatly distressed his mind ; but at last, 
feeling that a woe was upon him if he refused to preach the Gos- 
pel, he announced the change of his purpose as to his life work, 
and his intention of entering the ministry at once. 

Brother Hite was received on trial in the West Virginia Con- 
ference, at its session in the city of Wheeling, March 1872, Bish- 
op Simpson presiding; and was appointed, as junior preacher, 
on the Knottsville and Fetterman Circuit, Kev. E. S. Wilson be- 
ing preacher in charge. He labored with acceptability on this 
work, and at the earnest request of the Quarterly Conference 
was returned the following year with Kev. C. J. Trippett as 
senior preacher. He was next appointed as pastor in charge 
of Barboursville Circuit, Guyandotte District. His labors on 
this work were successful. Many were converted and added to 
the Church. He was next appointed to Eowlesburg Station, 
Morgantown District. In the fall of this year, he resigned his 
charge and went to Drew Theological Seminary, but feeble 
health and other weighty considerations, influenced him soon to 
return. He resumed the pastorate of the Rowlesburg Church, 
and during the winter conducted a revival of unusual power, — 
over one hundred were received into the Church that year. His 
next appotntment was Fulton Circuit, Wheeling District. He 
remained the full term of the pastorate here ; and from this place 
was appointed to Zane Street Station, Wheeling. 

The following June he was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
E. Phipps, an accomplished young lady of Wheeling. His pas- 
torate at Zane Street Station was a very laborious one, on account 
of the financial embarrassment in which he found the Church, 
when he became its pastor ; but at the end of his term, every dol- 
lar of the debt was paid, the church was handsomely frescoed 
and generally improved, and the society was left in an unusu- 
ally prosperous condition. In this station, though quite a young 
man, Brother Hite made for himself an enviable reputation in 
his Conference. The next year, 1881, he was sent to Chapline 
Street Station, Wheeling, where he is now rendering acceptable 
and efficient service. His congregations are always large, and 
he never fails to have gracious revivals in all his fields of labor. 

Brother Hite is a successful preacher. He is a close student, 
and goes into his pulpit with a fresh message for his congrega- 



Rev. George E, Hite* 289 

tion, and therefore never fails to interest and instruct them. He 
has studied both Greek and Latin under private instruction, and 
in the Latin has madb considerable proficiency. He ha a voice of 
unusual compass, and speaks with great freedom and earnestness. 
He is thoroughly devoted to his profession, and has the courage, 
in the pulpit and on the platform, to attack sin in all its forms. 
He is among the most popular ministers of his age in West Vir- 
ginia. 



SERMON XXIII * 



BY 



REV. GEORGE E. HITE. 



Theme :— CHKISTIANITY'S CHALLENGE TO UNBELIEF. 

Text : — " Which of you convinceth me of sin." — John viii : 46. 

The keen-scented blood-hound never more savagely 
or untiringly followed the trail of the fugitive slave, 
than were the footsteps of Jesus hounded by the 
chief priests and scribes who were eager for his blood. 
They set hired lawyers to entrap him in his conversa- 
tion. In almost every public audience that he ad- 
dressed, during the three years of his ministry on 
earth, there were present paid or volunteer spies, lis- 
tening with eagerness to catch some word by which 
they might bring a charge against him. With the cun- 
ning of foxes and the stealth of tigers, they followed his 
every movement. They knew where he was, and what 
he was doing, nearly every hour of his time on earth, 
after he began his public ministry. Scarcely a word 
fell from his lips they did not hear, and report to 
the Council. They knew every house he entered — 
they knew whether he ate with washed or unwashed 
hands. They knew everybody with whom he con- 
versed and the theme of conversation. But it was all 
of no avail. He foiled them at every point. This 
maddened them beyond control. Christ fully compre- 

*Preached before the West Va. Annual Conference, at Clarksburg, Oct. 10, 
1882. 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 291 

hended the situation ; he knew the animus of the hier- 
archy toward him, but he was not afraid. In that 
courage that can only come from the consciousness of 
the perfect integrity of life, and purity of motive, 
Christ fearlessly confronted these spies, and challenged 
them to point to a single flaw in his life. False and 
malicious slanders must down before the steady gaze 
of innocence and truth. They never dared, with all 
the unblushing effrontery they manifested toward him, 
to accuse him to his face of violations of the moral 
law. The only charge they could bring against him, 
for which they could find any ground in truth, was 
that he disregarded the ritual and rubric of ecclesias- 
tical conventionalism of his time. He would not 
trammel himself with the burdensome and useless cer- 
emonial — touching the observance of the Sabbath, 
fastings and ablutions. He calmly pointed to his 
life and confidently asked, " Which of you convinceth 
me of sin ?" And he was fully as willing to have his 
teaching subject to a close and critical inspection as 
his life. For he was sure that they could not say 
that the doctrines that he taught, when accepted and 
reduced to practice, tended to make men more false 
and vain, and hateful and selfish. 

The challenge that Christ gave to the Pharisees is 
the challenge of Christianity to her enemies to-day, 
11 Which of you convinceth me of sin?" The Chris- 
tian religion does not shrink from candid investiga- 
tion and fair test. It does not dread the broad light 
of day ; it courts the most careful examination. There 
is no attempt at secrecy ; nothing hidden or kept away 
from the eyes of the world. The Bible is an open 
book, and he who will, may read and judge for him- 
self. In any system of doctrine, or set of principles, 
the end sought is a matter of prime importance with 
us, in trying to make up an opinion as to whether we 
will give to the same our approval and confidence. 

I. WHAT IS THE AIM OF CHRISTIANITY ? 

Is it the weal or woe of the human race it seeks ? 
If it can be shown that it strikes at the happiness 
and freedom of the masses, and seeks to create castes 



292 West Virginia Pulpit?, 

and class distinctions, to build up a hierarchial des- 
potism, the enslavement and degradation of man, in- 
stead of his highest e]evation and fullest liberty, then 
let it be blotted from the love and faith of mankind. 
Let not tongue and pen cease their labors, until the 
pernicious system is rooted out, and thrown aside as 
one of the many false and wicked religions that from 
time to time have made their appearance in the 
world. But on the other hand, if it can be demon 
strated that it is the amelioration of man — his phys- 
ical, intellectual and moral good — it seeks, securing 
unto him liberty of conscience, and civil freedom, 
and all the rights and immunities which an impar- 
tial and merciful God has willed to him, as his in- 
alienable inheritance — mitigating his sufferings, les- 
sening his cares and lightening his burdens, then 
I ask where is the miscreant that dare lift pen or 
voice against the Christian religion, or attempt to rob 
his troubled and burdened race of this God-given 
boon? Such is the aim of our holy religion. Its 
only mission, to a lost world, is the bettering of hu- 
man condition in every direction. It comes to feed 
the hungry, to clothe the naked, visit the sick and 
set the prisoner free. I challenge any man to prove 
to the contrary. The man has not lived, does not 
live, and will not live, who after carefully studying 
our holy Christianity, can rise up and declare its aim 
to be the aggravation of man's troubles, the increas- 
ing of his burdens, the intensifying of his sufferings, 
the dwarfing of his intellect, the enslavement of his 
conscience, and the pollution of his affections. I am 
aware that for ages the whole civilized world was 
under the heel of an ecclesiastical despotism, which 
was as foreign to the spirit of Christ as hell is foreign 
to heaven. Papacy ruled the kingdoms of this world 
with a rod of iron. The Pope in his sumptuous pal- 
ace in the Eternal City, was the acknowledged "King 
ot kings and Lord of lords," over all the earth. He 
made and unmade kings at will. The nations waited 
his nod. Restrictions hard to be borne were laid on 
the governments of earth. Man was deprived of the 
last vesitige of liberty, whether religious or civil. 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 293 

The dungeons were foul with the stench of dead men 
whose only crime was the holding of views concern- 
ing the Bible not authorized by the holy (?) Catholic 
Church of Rome. The flames fed on their flesh; the 
sword, the guillotine were drenched with their blood. 
The very earth was drunk with the blood of the saints. 
I have read the sad story of the persecutions of the Va- 
doise, the terrible Spanish Inquisition, the sickening 
horrors of St. Bartholomew, and other crimes which 
blacken the pages of Church history, committed not 
alone by Romanists, but in some instances by Protest- 
ants as well, — done in the name of Christ. But Christ 
gives no sanction whatever in his teachings to violence 
crime, as instruments for the conversion of the world. 
" The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." 

What similarity is there between the ferocious and 
murderous spirit — which found vent in the deeds of 
cruelty and blood just described — and the lamb-like 
spirit of the Son of God ? Christ came into the world 
to bind up the broken hearted, to open prison doors 
and preach deliverance to the captives. His aim is 
to seek and save that which was lost. Where, I ask, 
is there anything in such an unselflsh, laudable aim 
which justifies the savage and relentless war that mod- 
ern unbelief wages against Christianity? 

II. WHAT OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RE- 
LIGION ? 

Let us next inspect these doctrines. We found no 
grounds for indictment in the aims of Christianity, 
can we find it here ? An attempt, in this place, to run 
the whole range of Christian doctrine, giving to each 
that attention its importance merits, would be to be- 
tray our ignorance, and far transcend the limits of a 
discourse of this kind. Each of these precious doc- 
trines deserve a volume ; and we do not know of one 
to which some Christian scholar has not paid this de- 
served tribute. We can only review the principal 
ones, and these but briefly and imperfectly. 

1. The existence of God. The first verse of the Bi- 
ble reveals the sublime idea of a God — infinite, self- 
existent, source and head of all things. No method 



294 West Virginia Pulpit. 

of argumentation is employed to prove the fact. The 
statement is positively made, u In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth ;" and then the in- 
spired penman proceeds to give the successive acts 
by which this system of material things around us 
was made. There are men who reject this funda- 
mental doctrine of the Christian religion, because it 
is a mystery. They have tried to solve this great 
mystery, and have been baffled, and for this reason 
they tell us they will not believe it. It is granted 
that the secret of God's existence is a mystery no 
finite mind can grasp and lay bare. But I ask the 
votaries of the god Reason which is the most rational 
thing to do, (I employ the words of another), " accept 
this one great mystery, or reject it, and involve our- 
selves in a maze of a million mysteries. Equally inex- 
plicable — in every blade of grass, grain of sand, or 
creeping thing, not one of which has a solution with- 
out the concession of this one infinite and fundamen- 
tal mystery. " 

A German scientist, in an essay on " The limits of 
Natural Philosophy^ read before the ''Berlin Academy 
of Sciences," propounds to his brother scientists sev- 
en world problems, which no one of them has been 
able to solve : (1) The existence of matter and power. 
(2) The source of motion. (3) The beginning of life. 
(4) The manifest proofs of design in nature. (5) 
The origin of simple perception. (6) Logical think- 
ing and the origin of language. (7) Free will. Con- 
cede the existence of an eternal, almighty God — orig- 
in and sustainer of all things, and all these mysteries 
are readily solved. Ignore the Creator, and there is 
no solution for them. One cannot but be both amused 
and pained by reading the baseless theories advocated 
by infidel science, in its vain endeavors to solve the 
problem of the universe by leaving the great factor 
God out. Says the author of a very remarkable book, 
written in defense of the faith once delivered to the 
saints : " The mind of man needs rest, and must find 
a sure abiding plaoe somewhere from the harrassing 
plague of doubt and uncertainty, or else wear itself 
out in perpetual agitation. There is but one safe po- 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 295 

sition, either in philosophy or religion where the soul 
can find rest, and that is to merge all Nature's mys- 
teries back into the one great mystery of Nature's 
God. Let us seek that resting place as the shadow of 
a great rock in a weary land." 

2. Free agency and depravity. These are doctrines 
of the Christian religion. They are unquestionably 
established by experience and observation. As to the 
freedom of the will, this is the special boast of in- 
fidelity. This doctrine of free choice is not only in 
harmony with our reason and experience, but it is in 
the most perfect accord with infidel philosophy,which 
seeks to make a god out of man by descanting on " the 
sovereignity of man," "the sacredness of man," etc., 
to which I offer no objection. Man is a sovereign — he 
is sacred and noble ; and yet there seems a strange 
inconsistency in this, when we remember his con- 
temptible origin. A certain school of scientists (so 
called) tell us that man is a lineal descendant of the 
baboon, a prince of the royal line. If that be true, 
is it not high time that such alow sprung individual 
cease to glorify himself? For if that old maxim 
of philosophy be true, viz : that " like produces like," 
the conclusion which forces itself upon him, to say 
the least, is not complimentary to his lordship. 

As to the doctrine of depravity, I admit that it is 
not pleasant to contemplate. Especially are the sym- 
bols employed by the Bible to represent the moral con- 
dition of the unrenewed heart distasteful to the proud 
spirit of man. A grave full of dead men's bones — a hu- 
man body covered with putrefaction from head to foot — 
a cage of unclean birds. But a fact is none the less a fact 
because it is unpleasant. The pleasant things we hear 
are much easier to be believed than the unpleasant. 
News may be brought to the master of a vessel that she 
is sinking — unpleasant news, indeed. He dislikes to be- 
lieve it, but this does not save the ship from sink- 
ing. You are up town, the fire alarms strike. Some 
one comes rushing into your place of business and 
says, tw It's your house that is on fire." You say, " That 
is unpleasant tidings, therefore I will not believe it." 
But the house burns down, nevertheless. Your child 
is sick ; you call in a physician ; he makes a careful 



296 West Virginia Pulpit. 

examination of the case ; his face grows serious, and 
at last hesitatingly tells you the child must die. Sad 
tidings indeed. You say, " I cannot, I will not believe 
it." Yet this does not save the little one's life. That 
strange doctrine that man, instead of beginning life 
with a spotless moral nature, began at the greatest 
possible remove from such a state — moral zero, and 
has been gradually climbing up to that ideal condi- 
tion, meets its death in the fact that in the ascent of 
life, humanity reached the summit of moral perfec- 
tion more than eighteen hundred years ago, in the per- 
son of the incarnate Son of God. 

This doctrine of depravity, I claim, is corroborated 
by the deranged and chaotic condition of the moral 
w r orld. All order and harmony are gone, and perpet- 
ual unrest and tumult reign. How has this been brought 
about? You may search, but will search in vain 
for a parallel elsewhere in nature. Order and content- 
ment reign throughout. Everything else seems in 
harmony with itself and its environments. Gaze into 
yonder sky at the stars floating like white lilies on 
the surface of a clear, calm lake. How tranquil they 
seem. No tumult or strife there, but all in harmoni- 
ous intercourse with each other. Turn away from 
this radiant scene, and look upon faithful mother 
earth. Age on age through the mighty reaches of im- 
mensity. She has been making her solemn rounds, 
never varying the millioneth part of a second in a 
thousand years — never failing to bring to us winter 
and summer, seed time and harvest. What bountiful 
provision she makes for the sustenance of every liv- 
ing thing,with unstinted hand yielding up to man the 
treasures of her bosom. How contented and satisfied 
in her lot. Put down thine ear and listen close and 
long, but never a sound or a murmur of complaint wilt 
thou hear from the lips of patient earth. Go to the cat- 
tle that graze upon a thousand hills. Tranquil and 
satisfied they pass their time away. The flowers bloom 
and the birds sing to tell us of their peace and joy. 
All nature is contented and happy. Her stars are shin- 
ing, her seas are smiling, her rivers are laughing, the 
tall cedars of Lebanon are clapping their hands for 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 297 

joy. Let everything that has breath join in the har- 
monious song of praise that nature sings to nature's 
God. 

But hark, there is a discordant sound — a break has 
been made in the harmony. From whence does it 
come? Man alone, amidst all this harmony, is dis- 
cordant, out of tune with his environments. O, man, 
why is it that all other things are in their way happy 
in their lot, and tbou art deprived of peace ! Thy soul 
a battle-field where opposing forces wage a ceaseless 
strife. How does it come that the servants of the 
king are all satisfied and happy, and only the king 
himself is wretched? Answer, if thou canst. Thou 
failest ; I am not surprised. The Bible will answer for 
thee in tho doctrine of the fall. Unhappy being, ques- 
tion thine own heart, and read the dark pages of human 
crime and thou canst no longer doubt. 

3. Look next at the doctrine of the Atonement. If 
Christianity came only to make to us a revelation of our 
fallencondition, telling us of the impassable gulf digged 
between us and God, shutting out forever all hope of 
mercy and pardon, and had no further communication 
to make, it would be a sad office to preach such a Gos- 
pel. But I thank God such is not the case. In the 
same chapter that announces man's fall, I read of a 
gracious plan for his recovery. Though in the exer- 
cise of free choice man superinduced sin upon himself 
and by sin separation from God and eternal death, 
yet "God so loved the world that he gave his only be- 
gotten Son that whosoever beiieveth in him should 
not perish but have everlasting life." Yes, glory to 
God! for he hath redeemed us not with corruptible 
things such as silver and gold, but by the precious 
blood of Christ. Tell me unbelief, what fault hast 
thou to find with this gracious truth ? Here, and here 
only, canst thou find an answer to that greatest of all 
questions — which rises by intuition in the heart of 
the civilized and savage alike, " What must I do to 
be saved ?" Men searched in vain for an answer to 
this question of questions among the other religions 
of the earth. 

Philosophy tried but failed to answer, turning, 
19 



298 West Virginia Pulpit. 

away in sorrow from the false religions and vain phi- 
losophies of earth. Man next appealed to Nature to 
answer; but Nature had no answer to give. With 
an eloquence peculiar to himself, another tells the 
story of nature's helplessness in the presence of the 
pleading heart of humanity : u Sweltering nations 
have knelt at the feet of the Himalayan mountains 
for ages asking that question, but the mountains made 
no response. Not one of the old peaks stooped down 
to liftasingle soul on its shoulders into heaven. Still 
the people cry, and still the mountains are silent. 
" What must I do to be saved?" Nations in blind- 
ness and death, have knelt on the shores of the Cas- 
pian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Bengal Bay, moan- 
ing out that question ; but still there was nothing in 
all the rumbling surf that responded. The winds 
mocked, and the waves spit their spray in the face of 
the dying nations. And so the cry went round the 
world, but the desert spoke not, and the Alps were 
silent — and the stars were dumb — all the caverns and 
hills and seas but echoed back the dismal cry, u what 
must I do to be saved." 

Eighteen hundred years ago a prisoner in jail at 
Philippi, with back bleeding and feet in the stocks, 
gave the only answer to the question to be had in 
heaven above, or the earth beneath : " Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." 

" Salvation let the echo fly 
The spacious earth around, 
Until all the armies of the sky 
Conspire to raise the sound." 

4. The Scriptures contain the sublime doctrine of 
the resurrection of the body and the immortality of 
the soul. What offense do these glorious doctrines in- 
flict on frail, dying humanity? Why should it be a 
displeasing thing to you my friends, to be told that 
these bodies of such beauty and grace, upon which 
has been expended such infinite skill of workman- 
ship,and which you so fondly love; upon which you 
lavish such tender attention, are not like the worms 
to be thrust into the earth to moulder back to the ele- 
ments from which they were originally made, to be- 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 299 

come again a part of the common dust; but on the 
contrary, are to be lifted up in the last day, reorgan- 
ized in celestial and deathless form; and rising from 
the scenes of their earthly existence, shall enter the 
skies and begin the blissful experience of their new 
and ceaseless life. To my mind no hope can bring 
such consolation to our hearts as the coffin lid closes 
down and shuts from our tearful eyes the face and 
form of our dead kindred for all time, as the hope of 
the resurrection of the dead. We cannot deny that it 
is a stupendous mystery; but shall this be sufficient 
to prove it a baseless dream ? Which is the greater 
mystery, your creation or your resurrection? You 
cannot deny your existence, but the ground upon 
which some reject the resurrection, viz: that of mys- 
tery, would compel them to deny that they are. O, 
relentless sceptic take not away this consoling hope! 
If it is a delusion, it will not hurt us to believe it, but 
take it from us, and we sit in the thick gloom of de- 
spair, with the angel of hope dead in our hearts. 

As to the immortality of the soul, what can be 
more in harmony with our highest reason and best 
feelings? What is there in this doctrine derogatory 
to the dignity of man, or in what way does it inter- 
fere with his interests on earth? An eternal life 
under such conditions as by the Word of God are 
predicated of the future state, is to my mind the most 
inspiring and helpful hope that blesses the heart of 
humanity. Why should a man want to die — to cease 
to be, when the narrow bounds of his earthly life is 
reached. What object do men have in denying the 
future life ? Says Massilon, the famous French divine, 
"We have only to trace the origin of an opinion to 
ascertain whether the interests of truth or passion 
have established it on the earth." Go upon the streets 
of this city to-morrow, — begin with the purest and 
noblest souls that bless the race, and descend the 
scale until the vilest and lowest spirits that curse and 
shame the name of man are reached and put these 
questions, Do you believe that human conduct is a 
matter of lively interest and minute record with God? 
Do you believe there is a future life, and that the weal 



300 West Virginia Pulpit. 

or woe of that life will be determined by this record ? 
At the top of the scale your questions will be answered, 
with a possible exception, in a great number, in the 
affirmative ; but as you descend, doubts will be ex- 
pressed, and before the bottom is reached, they will 
be flatly negatived. It is not the good men in this 
world who want to abolish the future state revealed 
in the Bible. Is there no significance in this? Take 
yourself: When is it that the future state seems 
more desirable and reasonable? Is it when under 
the sway of some vile passion, when conscience is 
lashing thee for some carnal indulgence? Or is it 
when ruled by thy better self — following the guidance 
of right reason, thou art conscious of the rectitude of 
thy life and the purity of thy motives? Am I not 
right? Ah, my friends, these men who tell us that 
conscience is a myth, the soul a little flame that will 
flicker and go out in death, that the future state is 
the dream of the enthusiast and hell a delusion, have 
not reached these astounding discoveries by consult- 
ing Virtue and Reason, for these unite in enforcing the 
Bible doctrine of the immortality of the soul. 

5. The last of these precious doctrines of the Chris- 
tian religion of which I will now speak is, the super- 
intending providence of God. Though there are 
many inscrutable things about it, yet it seems that it 
cannot in any way, be offensive to the feelings or 
minds of men. To me it is a pleasing thought that 
this world, with its varied forms of life, animal and 
human, man and beast, with their many and ever re- 
curring wants are not left entirely at the mercy of fixed 
and feelingless law, but that we are all closely super- 
intended by the great Father, God. Let it be a delu- 
sion, and let him scoff who will, I cannot give up the 
faith that the steps of a good man are ordered of the 
Lord, and that the same hand that clothes the lily 
and feeds the birds, will feed and clothe me. God has 
said, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ; lo, I 
am with you always." 

"So "beside the silent sea 
I wait the muffled oar ; 
No harm from him can come to me 
On ocean or on shore. 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 301 

" I know not where his islands 
Lift their fronded palms in air, 
I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond his love and care." 

O boasting unbelief, these are the doctrines of the 
Gospel we preach. What of wrong — what of harm 
have they inflicted on the lost race of Adam ? Speak 
if thou canst, and indict one or all of these doctrines 
of hurtful influence upon human life. 

We have failed to find any thing either in the aims 
or doctrines of Christianity that would deprive it of 
that reverence and affection with which the masses of 
mankind have regarded it for nearly twenty centu- 
ries. 

III. LET US NEXT STUDY ITS EFFECTS UPON THE 
HEART AND LIFE. 

If a system, whether of philosophy or religion, be 
right in its aims, sound in its doctrines, good in its 
effects, who dare assault and revile it. The Christian 
religion has produced a more beneficient and salutary 
effect upon National and individual life than all the 
other reformatory and civilizing influences combined. 
What has the Vedic writings and the Shastra done 
for India, or the Zend Avesta, the Koran or the writ- 
ings of Confucious for Persia, Africa, Turkey and Chi- 
na, as compared with what the Bible has done for Eng- 
land, Scotland and the United States of America ? 

Christianity has breathed its genial breath upon the 
desert places of earth, and made them to rejoice and 
blossom as the rose. It touches humanity on all sides, 
and wherever it touches it imparts purity and hope. 
It has permeated our literature and has refined and 
purified it. It has succeeded in some way in incar- 
nating its gracious principles in our laws, and as a 
consequence, we have the best system of jurisprudence 
in the world. But no where has it done a more blessed 
work for man than in the home. Oh, how our homes 
have been hallowed and sanctified by the teachings of 
the Gospel. How the tender and sacred relations of hus- 
band and wife, child and parent, brother and sister, 
have been revealed and established by the Christian 
religion. What is the home, what are the family re- 
lations in those lands where no Christ is known and 



302 West Virginia Pulpit. 

loved? But I must not keep too far from you in this 
part of my subject — Let us come closer together and 
study the divine effects of Christianity. First in the 
transformation of character. How does it operate 
here ? Does it make man better or worse? There is not a 
man under the broad, blue sky to-day, who can pro- 
duce a solitary instance where the individual was 
made more licentious, vain, false, or selfish by this 
sacred book. But I could summon from this presence 
witnesses to testify to the fact without a single excep- 
tion, human character, wherever brought under the 
magic power of the Christian religion, has been ex- 
alted and made all glorious to behold. I know a man 
who, at one time, was the most profane and unclean 
of speech, indecent of action, drunken and abandoned 
wretch in the community in which he lived. But he 
is not so now. A work as miraculous as raising the 
dead, has taken place in that man's heart and life. 
He has been converted to God. His tongue is free 
from profane speech. His conversation is chaste, and 
his whole deportment is sober and virtuous. He is 
a kind and an affectionate husband and father, an 
honorable citizen, aChristian gentleman. His old com- 
rades in crime — the gambler, the debauchee — are com- 
pelled to believe, let them sneer never so much, that 
his religion has lifted him up and far away from the 
degradation he once shared along with them. I chal- 
lenge any man to find fault with a work like that. 

Such examples of moral heroism and self abandon- 
ment as have been produced by the religion of the 
Cross, can be found no where else. Time would fail me 
to call the names of the noble men and women, who, 
in all ages, have counted their lives as nothing for 
Christ's sake. Under the inspiration of Christianity, 
schools of learning have been founded, hospitals and 
asylums have been opened, wounds have been healed, 
tears have been wiped away, prison doors have been 
opened, and slaves set free. Amid the afflictions and 
bereavements incident to the life we now live, what 
has been such a stay and comfort to humanity as the 
religion of Christ ? Could we live without it ? Last 
summer I stood by the bed-side of a young man (a 



Christianity's Challenge to Unbelief. 303 

member of the church of which I am now pastor), who 
was dying from an injury he had sustained a few days 
before. For a few hours after the accident the physi- 
cians were unable to determine whether the hurt was 
fatal or not. At last, symptoms developed that told the 
sad story — he must die. He received the announce- 
ment without a tremor of alarm. I saw him call his 
young wife to his side for a last farewell on earth. 
She came with their sweet babe in her arms, so soon 
to be fatherless. The dying man took the little one 
in his arms, and held it for a moment to his heart, and 
then handed it back to its mother. He then took a 
tender leave of his devoted wife and sorrowing friends, 
and met death as tranquilly as if he knew himself to 
be only falling into a sweet sleep. Since I witnessed 
that triumphant death, I wonder why all men do not 
live the life of the righteous, that the last end may be 
like his. 

And yet we are told, after all we are able to say in 
its defense, we must give it up. There are those who 
say it is a wicked delusion — a cruel hoax — a super- 
stition, which must be destroyed; and they are ran- 
sacking heaven and earth for arguments to break 
its hold upon the reverence and faith of the world. 
Will they succeed? Never. Millions of loving hearts, 
who have sadly laid their kindred in the grave, are 
comforting themselves with the hope of the resurrec- 
tion of the dead. The unfortunate and down-trodden 
of earth find their only happiness here. The weak 
and tempted know no other refuge. Men who have 
suffered failure and defeat in this life, are only saved 
from its despair by the hope of a life to come. These 
will never give up the Bible. Ah ! no, friends, be not 
dismayed. Men may attack our holy religion, but 
they will never conquer it. The earth may dissolve, 
the heavens pass away as a parchment scroll, but God 
himself hath said, " One jot or tittle shall in no wise 
pass from the law till all be fulfilled." 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



Rev. Joseph Lee was born and educated in Ireland. He is 
now 35 years of age and is stationed at Buckhannon, W. Va. 
Brother Lee was converted at the early age of fifteen, and was 
only about sixteen when he began holding religious services. 
Soon afterwards he was licensed to preach, and for several years 
in Ireland and Scotland, as a local preacher, he made "full proof 
of his ministry." His parents died when he was very young, 
thus leaving him to " face life's great battle," with more than 
ordinary exposure to temptation ; but always and everywhere his 
mind was pure and his life untainted. 

Brother Lee came to West Virginia from the Old World, in the 
summer of 1872, and served the remainder of that year on the 
Mannington Circuit. He joined the West Virginia Conference 
in March, 1873, and has served the following Churches : King- 
wood, one year; Fetterman, three years; Grantsville, Mary- 
land, one year ; Guyandotte, two years, and Clarksburg, three 
years. He is in his first year in his present appointment at Buck- 
hannon. 

Brother Lee has had'liberal educational advantages, and he 
has used them well. He has read a large number of books, and 
is at home on almost any^topic of conversation which may be 
introduced. 

As a preacher he is logical and eloquent, frequently taking his 
audience by surprise as by some beautiful flight of oratory he il- 
lustrates the Sacred Truth. He is one of those preachers to whom 
the people are more firmly attached, year by year, and whose 
preaching never shows any indication of sameness or repetition. 
He might preach a lifetime in a charge, and always have some- 
thing new to say. In disposition, he is exceedingly modest and 
retiring. In temper, calm and self controlling. As a minister, 
he is true in every department of his holy work, and equally suc- 
cessful. While as a friend, he is steadfast as a rock, and help- 
ful to the utmost of his ability. 

In the autumn of 1879, Brother Lee was married to Miss Ida 
M. Engle, of Grantsville, Maryland, who is to him a faithful and 
devoted helper in his work as a minister of the M. E. Church. 
Only those who are personally intimate with the subject of this 
sketch, and know his sterling worth and ability can fully appre- 
ciate the man, and his many sacrifices for the sake of our beloved 
Methodism in the State of West Virginia. 



SERMON XXIV 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH LEE 



Theme:— DIVINE AXD HUMAN WORK. 

Text: — "Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glo- 
ry unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God 
be upon us : and establish thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
yea the work of our hands establish thou it." — Psalm xe: 16, 17. 

I. FIRST, DIVINE WORK. 

The work of God is made manifest in creation. He 
called into existence the vast universe and peopled 
space with innumerable worlds of greatness and grand- 
eur. He laid the foundations of the world and built 
it up in beauty and strength. He has moved the stars 
in their solemn march through the heavens, and made 
them praise him in the music of their spheres. He 
has "loosed Orion and bound the influences of Pleiades/' 
He wields the lightning, and rules the whirlwind, 
and chains with unpassable barriers the ocean's proud 
and restless waves. Thus the work of God is grandly 
unfolded in the splendor of the skies, the beauties of 
the earth and the wonders of the great deep. 

Then, again, we see the work of God in Providence, 
by which, in its comprehensive operations, he sus- 
tains all his creatures: and by which in its minute 
operations he especially cares for the interests of his 
own people. This work of God appeared to Xoah and 
his family in their escape from the great deluge. It 



306 West Virginia Pulpit. 

was made known to Lot and his family in their deliv- 
erance from the cities of the plain. It was wonder- 
fully made manifest to Moses, in his history and char- 
acter as the great leader of Israel. It appeared clear 
to the children of Israel in their emancipation from 
Egyptian bondage; in their passage across the Red 
Sea as on dryland; in being fed with Manna from 
the skies, and refreshed with water from the rock. 
While they were wandering in the wilderness, they 
were brought near to the mount, where Moses received 
the law, amid blackness, and darkness, and thunder- 
ing, and lightning, and storm ; where instructions 
were also given regarding the ark of the covenant, the 
mercy seat, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the va- 
ried operations of that dispensation. This work of 
Divine Providence has been made manifest to the 
people of God throughout all generations. 

But there is another, which is God's greatest and 
grandest work. It is his work of redemption, by which 
he saves the sinner from the ruins of the fall; by 
which he lifts him into his favor and transforms him 
to his likeness, and by which he qualifies him for the 
glory and blessedness of heaven. None but God could 
do this work. It is a work of reconciliation to be ac- 
complished by one, who from the earliest times, was 
announced as Jehovah, who should undertake and ac- 
complish the salvation of the world. He took our na- 
ture into close union with his own — so God is in 
Christ reconciling the world unto himself. The death 
of Jesus Christ was the great and effectual means of 
man's reconciliation to God. It was a sublime sub- 
ject for angels to study : it was the grand theme of the 
Old Testament writers; it was the great subject which 
was presented on Mount Tabor (or Hermon) when 
Christ was transfigured ; it is set forth in the Lord's 
Supper, and it is the song of the glorified, — they adore 
the Lamb that was slain, but is now alive from the 
dead and is to live forever more. 

In this work, we see God graciously willing the recov- 
ery of the lost, arranging the whole scheme of redemp- 
tion, according to his good pleasure which he had pur- 
posed in himself; and in the deepest and greatest 



Divine and Human Work. 307 

tenderness, offering his only begotten Son, being the 
most costly sacrifice which he could bestow. We also 
see the Divine Son humiliated, despised and smitten. 
He enters into the mystery of sorrow, which the hu- 
man mind fails to conceive. He is obedient in his 
death, and the humanity which he took upon himself, 
he loved so well, that he did not leave it to perish in 
the tomb, but took it with him into the glory of heav- 
en, in order that all other redeemed and saved hu- 
manity might not be strange or lonely amid the splen- 
dors of that palace eternal in the sky. 

Now, God's work of grace and mercy is in constant 
operation for the personal salvation of man. This 
divine work produces the sublimest results. It gives 
light to our understanding, tenderness to the con- 
science, godly sorrow to the heart, and confidence in 
God to the self-condemned spirit. It conveys to the 
heart of those who trust in Jesus, conscious pardon, 
renews it in righteousness and true holiness, makes 
it radiant with celestial light, and fruitful of all good 
works. A new creation is evoked out of the wild 
waste of man's spiritual nature; mantled with a se- 
rene sky, brightened by divine illumination, refreshed 
by dews of grace and showers of blessing, enriched 
with the peaceable fruits of righteousness, which are 
by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God, — and 
over the whole is spread an almighty defence so that 
no foe can conquer and no spoiler destroy. The di- 
vine energy of this work is unceasing. It changes 
us from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. The 
inward man is renewed day by day; holy principles 
gather strength ; spiritual graces assume richer hues 
of beauty; piety towards God and benevolence towards 
man appear in lovelier and more impressive forms, 
and the good work of God is thus carried on, until it 
is perfect and complete. 

It is also a work of power to those that believe. It 
sustains and blesses them amid the trials and tribu- 
lations of life. Whatever be the nature of our trials 
or their number, the work of divine grace is a sus- 
taining power. It brings relieving brightness in 
every obscure day and dark night. It dries up our 



308 West Virginia Pulpit*. 

tears, and silences our complaints. It solaces us in 
our sorrows, upholds us in our weakness, and com- 
forts us in our tribulations. It gives us songs in the 
inner prison, glorying under stripes, and divine he- 
roism when brought to the stake, or cast into the 
flames. It takes away the sting of death, crowns the 
departing spirit with victory, and inspires it with 
hymns of praise to God and the Lamb. 

This work of God includes the resurrection of the 
body to eternal life. The mortal shall put on im- 
mortality; the victor shall be vanquished; death shall 
be swallowed up in victory. Behold the immortal 
form, as it is fitted and made ready for the ransomed 
and glorified soul, and the dignity of a higher situ- 
ation! The Judge of the whole human family ap 
pears, and before him all are called to stand. Where 
now is he who is saved by the work of almighty 
power and grace ? Look at the blaze of glory on the 
right of the Judge! You find the Savior there; but 
does not the light and glory dazzle and overwhelm 
you ? We are not surprised that it does Your na- 
tural vision is not now prepared to bear the sight ; 
but the Judge sees him. He singles him out, brings 
him forward to the front, and there he stands in the 
presence of the great assembly ! Every ear is atten- 
tive ; every eye is fixed. Then the Judge says, " enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord." Behold the crown he 
wears, the society with which he mingles, the ever- 
lasting pleasures he enjoys ! He has ears to hear, 
eyes to see, and an immortal nature to understand 
the deeper things of the Kingdom of God. He is 
raised to glisten in the splendors of deity. He enters 
that home, where the walls of jasper, the gates of 
pearl, and the streets of gold are surpassed by the 
glory of God, the presence of Christ and the society 
of angels. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are inti- 
mately nigh; they give of their fulness, and satisfy 
him to the utmost. Thus in all these things we can 
see the great work of God in the complete redemp- 
tion and glorification of the believing soul. 



Divine and Human Work. 309 



II. HUMAN WORK. 

Man being ignorant of the ways of God while in 
his natural state, he therefore finds it necessary to se- 
cure knowledge. We are told that most of our orig- 
inal ideas are acquired through the senses ; that nearly 
all we know is by sense ; that we have no innate ideas ; 
and if we had only one which we brought into this 
world with us, it would be that of the being of our 
great Creator. The Holy Scriptures tell us that man, 
not only in the lowest savage state, but by wisdom, 
knows not God. He comes into the world in a de- 
praved moral state, and he is more stupid than the 
ox, u which knoweth his owner." And so it is very 
evident that nothing can be of greater importance 
than that man should know himself. " Know thy- 
self," was a popular expression among the Greeks ; 
and so highly mentioned among the Romans that it 
was declared to have dt-cended from heaven. It has 
always been and is a subject of great interest at the 
present time. Man should work in order to know 
himself in regard to his immortal nature, his depraved 
moral condition, his unrighteous state, his accounta- 
bleness to God, and his future destiny. To secure 
this knowledge, he is endowed with the faculties of 
mind ; has been blessed w T ith sufficient means of infor- 
mation, and the most powerful incentives, both from 
the command of God and the importance of the mat- 
ter itself. This knowledge, therefore, is at the found- 
ation of moral principle and religious duty. But it 
is of as great importance that man should know his 
maker — know him as a God of infinite perfection — 
what he is to man, as the author of his being, his ben- 
efactor, redeemer, his soul's chief good, and his judge 
who will arrange his destiny in eternity. To know 
God is the great end of man's being. For this pur- 
pose he is made w T hat he is — invested with exalted 
faculties of mind, surrounded with grand and glorious 
objects of sense, intrusted with a divine revelation, 
and favored with the presence of the Holy Spirit, who 
makes known to the mind and reveals to the soul 
the unchangeable God. Man, by a right use of these 



310 West Virginia Pulpit. 

means, and the exercise of his powers, should obtain 
this very important knowledge. 

There are special divine blessings which should be 
obtained. Man comes into this world as devoid of 
spiritual good as he does of knowledge. He is blind, 
poor, miserable and wretched. As he has sinned, 
therefore he is told to repent. He has abused the 
mercies of God, and should therefore be humbled to 
poverty of spirit. He must obtain the pardon of sin, 
the favor of God, peace of mind and love to the Lord, 
joy in God and the evidence of salvation. These are 
blessings which form the title to, and fitness for glory 
and eternal life. To secure these blessings there must 
be active work in asking, seeking and believing, so 
as to make one's calling and election sure by being 
adopted into the family of God. 

Man has duties to perform. He exists in a sinful 
world, and is clothed with a fallen and depraved na- 
ture. His first duties, therefore, are to resist the temp- 
tations of the one, and overcome the evil desires of the 
other. He has to deny ungodliness and worldly desires ; 
overcome the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And 
if in doing these things, a hand or an eye should of- 
fend, it should be cut off or plucked out and cast from 
him. But there are other duties which are, perhaps, 
more positive in their character. Man is placed in 
various important relations, as a creature, to the Cre- 
ator, as a brother to the human family, or as a mem- 
ber of acivil or religious body, and isconnected to others 
by ties of flesh and blood. Each of these relations con- 
tains its varied duties. That man may resist that 
which is evil and cleave unto that which is good, he 
must strive against every appearance of evil. He 
must read and study the Divine Word, so that it may 
direct him by its precepts and encourage him by its 
sacred promises. He should ask for the blessings of 
divine favor, in order that they may enable him to do 
the will of God. Man is sent into this world to be re- 
ligious, and religion is compared to running, wrest- 
ling, laboring, fighting, agonizing, and working out 
our salvation with fear and trembling. 

Man is placed here to b& an active agent ; and he is 



Divine and Human Wokk. 311 

often found active in the pursuit of those things which 
please the senses, gratify the appetites, serve his 
worldly interest, or agree with the nature of his earthly 
pursuits. But he should be much more active in those 
things which relate to the well being of the soul, the 
great concerns of eternity, and the glory of God. He 
has hands to employ in God's work, and feet to run 
his errands and move in the paths of obedience. His 
eyes should be active in surveying the glories of God ; 
his tongue should be used to speak the Master's praises; 
his judgment should determine the emotions of the 
soul ; his will should choose the good and refuse the 
evil; and with his affections he should esteem, love, 
fear, hope, and rejoice in God. 

But man has a still higher guide to direct him in 
his actions and work. He is favored with a dispen- 
sation of the Holy Spirit, with a clear revelation of 
God's will and Word, and a Gospel ministry besides ; 
and he has the promise of an abundant entrance into 
glory as the reward of faithful service. Man is placed 
in this world as a candidate for a brighter and a bet- 
ter home ; and by good discipline and holy exercise 
he may be prepared for it, as a scholar in school is 
trained for future situation and employment. Here, 
in this life, are the works of sin and the works of 
righteousness presenting themselves as employments 
to be chosen. To the works of sin, misery is uniform- 
ly attached; and of the works of righteousness tme 
happiness is the result. These are the most potent 
motives for the pursuit of holiness, and the reward is 
the glory of a celestial home. 

Thus man in the present state has salvation to se- 
cure. He has sins to repent of and renounce; bad 
habits to conquer; wicked passions to control; vile 
propensities to mortify ; wasted time to redeem ; par- 
don for past sins to seek ; enemies to subdue ; mercies 
to be grateful for; affections to give to God; duties to 
discharge to God, to the world, his friends and himself, 
and purity and fitness to gain for an immortal life. 
There is then work for every power of man's body, 
every faculty of mind, every affection of the heart, 
every talent with which he is entrusted, and for every 



312 West Virginia Pulpit. 

moment of precious time. This work is to be done 
with an eye single to God's glory and with a heart sin- 
cere, by laying aside every weight and running with 
patience the race set before him. Jesus is man's 
great pattern. He had to work the works of him who 
sent him, and endure the severest suffering and trial. 
But though he sweat under it even blood, there was 
something in it so sweet, that it was more than his meat 
and drink to do his Father's will. Paul had some of 
the hardest portions of it, and found in it such a charm 
that his life was not dear to him, so that he could 
finish his course with joy. No man, at the time, says 
it is hard; none on reflection will say that it is un- 
pleasant ; none ever repented on a death-bed for hav- 
ing done God's work. But many have been burned 
at the stake, before they would abandon it. God has 
given to man time that he may improve it; talents 
that he may employ them ; grace that he may use it ; 
strength that he might exert it; and appointed work 
that he might do it. So man should use the strength 
and grace he has, and action will be attended with a 
growing delight. God will reward the righteous for 
their works of faith and labor of love. Though Paul's 
salary for preaching was, at times, persecution, yet 
he knew that there was laid up for him a crown of 
righteousness. Even mad Balaam, who loved the work 
and present wages of unrighteousness, wanted the re- 
wards of piety hereafter. u Say to the righteous it 
shall be well with them for they shall eat of the fruit 
of their doings." 

This work of man is also a work of personal sanc- 
tification. Some might object to such a view of the 
subject, and say that sanctification is of grace. It is 
by the blood of Christ we are sanctified. Looking 
with respect to God, it is altogether of his grace that 
we are saved. Just as penitence is his gift, just as 
power to believe springs from the gracious influence 
of the Spirit of God upon our hearts, so the sanctifi- 
cation of our nature is by the impartation of his 
Spirit. But looking manward— looking towards our 
duties, we have a share in this important matter, 
and it is laid upon us ; hence, the exhortations to 



Divine and Human Work. 313 

sanctification by believing trust in the promises, that 
we are to cleanse ourselves "from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the 
Lord." Thus the standard set before man, is having 
found the rock on which he is called to build, to place 
stone upon stone, until at last the same hand that 
laid the foundations shall complete the edifice, amid 
shoutings of u grace, grace unto it." It is man's part 
as a spiritual husbandman in the plot of ground 
which is assigned to him, to root out the pestilential 
weeds of sin and impurity, and to cultivate the vari- 
ous fruits of the Christian mind. His hand must 
grasp the promised blessings. His energies must be 
put forth day by day, and by his efforts, in associa- 
tion with the Holy Spirit, he is to " perfect holiness 
in the fear of the Lord." 

There is also the work of personal service in the 
Church of Christ. There are many misconceptions 
as to man's duty in this respect. Some persons seem 
to think that Christianity consists almost altogether 
in privilege. They are ready to take the Lord Jesus 
as a Savior, but they seem to forget him as a Master. 
Man should never think, however, that he can take 
the blessing of salvation without, at the same time, 
putting his shoulder to the burden. But Christ tells 
him that his burden is light. Man should never 
think to enjoy the blessings of salvation without, at 
the same time, subjecting his neck to the yoke, dis- 
cipline, and service of his Divine Master. There is a 
personal work for every man to do in the extension 
of Christ's spiritual kingdom in the world. Look at 
the teaching of the Apostle Paul in regard to this 
work. He says, " No man liveth to himself." That 
is true of all; none can live to themselves. The 
drunkard and Sabbaih-breaker do hot live unto them- 
selves. Man cannot exert his energies withoutt send- 
ing out influences in his thoughts, actions and words, 
which will, in some way, affect his neighbors and 
associates or friends. 

But what does the Apostle say as to the character 
of the good man's work ? He distinctly declares that 
the purpose of the Christian is to live unto the Lord. 
21 



314 West Virginia Pulpit. 

" Whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and 
whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we 
live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Look at 
the connection between the authority of Christ and 
man's living. " No man liveth to himself ;" but the 
Christian lives and dies in the Lord. It is for this 
purpose that Christ reigns in heaven ; " that he might 
be Lord both of the dead and living," and that he 
might gather to himself the effects and consequences 
of man's moral and spiritual work, so as to use them 
for his own honor and glory. Our Lord himself, the 
great Teacher, speaks of the Church as an active 
agent. When speaking of the Kingdom of God, and 
speaking of its wide diffusion throughout the world, 
Christ represents it as leaven, which a woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was 
leavened. It is not the preacher in the pulpit, nor 
the officials of the Church merely, who are to work to 
advance the Kingdom of Jesus upon earth; but the 
whole Church are to act as leaven for the diffusion of 
his kingdom among the people. It is only by this 
means that the world will be converted. So man is 
called to this work of actual, personal service, in con- 
nection with the Church. Oh ! what a dignity it is 
to be engaged in rolling darkness from this world and 
flo oding it with light ; exiling misery from this world 
and filling it with happiness; dethroning Satan from 
the world and enthroning Christ. If every man who 
professes to be enlisted under the banner of the Cap- 
tain of our Salvation, were only to do his duty, there 
would soon be a triumph in comparison with which 
the splendors of the tented battlefield would sink 
into insignificance. If all would work aright, there 
would soon be the grand chorus of a redeemed and re- 
covered world. %c Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipo- 
tent reigneth !" Each individual should then do his 
or her part in this great work — the aged, the middle 
aged, the young, the learned, the unlettered, the rich, 
the poor, parents and children — all should " Come to 
the help of the Lord against the mighty." 



PERSONAL SKETCH 



Rev. F. H. J. King was born at Ripley, Jackson county, West 
Virginia, September 21st, 1834. His ancestors, as far back as 
he can trace them, were either members of, or sympathizers 
with, the Methodist Episcopal Church. He joined the M. E. 
Church, January 1st, 1848, and was converted in March, 1851. 
He was licensed to preach by Rev. A. J. Lyda, in January, 1857, 
and was received, on trial, in the West Virginia Conference, 
March, 1857; was ordained Deacon, April 24th, 1859, by Bishop 
Thomas A. Morris ; was ordained Elder, March 17th, 1861, by 
Bishop Osman C. Baker. 

His first appointment was Phillippi; his second, Pruntytown; 
third, Buckhannon; fourth, Raleigh; fifth, Fayette and Raleigh. 
Then the war drove him from his Circuit. From this time till 
the close of hostilities, he had no regular appointment, but 
preached anywhere and everywhere a congregation could be 
gathered. 

Brother King, with most of the preachers of the Conference, 
suffered greatly during the entire rebellion. Immediately after 
the war, and for his sixth appointment, he traveled Petroleum 
Circuit one year and a half, when his eye sight failing, he took 
a supernumerary relation for a year and a half. His next, and 
seventh appointment was Raleigh Circuit, two years ; the eighth, 
was Murraysville, two years ; ninth, Middlebourne, three years : 
tenth, Nicholas, three years ; eleventh, Fayette, one year ; twelfth, 
the New River District. He was the first Presiding Elder this 
District ever had, as it was not established until 1880, and he is 
now serving his last year upon it. 

Brother King was brought up on a farm, and necessarily had 
but few educational advantages in early life. In writing to me 
on this subject, he used the following language: "I was a 
farmer, and had very poor opportunities for education. The 
most of my information was obtained by the light of 'pine knots,' 
or ' tallow dips,' on the kitchen hearth, or, in front of the old- 
time log fire ; or while plowing, hoeing, or reaping in the fields. 
I often left an open book on the fence, at the end of the furrow, 
to be read and studied while turning the horses, or while rest- 
ing." This was a severe method of cultivating the brain ; but 
it was a sure way. Only the few, however, have the pluck, or 
ambition, to persevere in such a school. As remarked in other 
preceding Sketches, many of our most prominent preachers 



316 Rev. F/H. J. King. 

educated themselves~"very much the same way followed up by 
Brother King. 

The subject of this sketch, though not a scholar in a classic 
sense, yet, he is well up in theology, and is the possessor of a good 
English style. His sermons are clear, strong, carefully prepared, 
and convincing. He has a powerful voice, — no audience has yet 
been found too large for him to fail to make himself heard by all 
present. By his impassioned delivery, occasioned by efforts be- 
fore large congregations in the open air, Brother King has earned 
for himself the patronymic, " King of thunder;" and in no ob- 
jectionable sense is he often thus addressed. He has been the 
instrument in the Lord's hands of saving many souls in his va- 
rious fields of labor; and as he is now in the prime of life, there 
is yet before him, we trust, many more years of usefulness to 
the Church. 

January 20, 1861, Brother King and Miss Rufina Elizabeth 
Wilson were united in marriage. One of their sons — W. Wirt 
King — is a minister in the West Virginia Conference. 



SERMON XXV. 



BY 



REV. F. H. J. KING, P.E. 



Theme:— MORAL DESPONDENCY— ITS CAUSES AND ITS 
CURE. 

Text : — " Why art thou cast down, O, my soul ? and why art 
thou disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God." — Psalms xlii : 5. 

David's writings are full of sighs. We see him lean- 
ing upon his harp and sighing, u Oh, that I had the 
wings of a dove ! for then would I fly away and be at 
rest." We see him again as he beholds the sanctuary 
desolated by the workings of wicked men, crying, "O 
God, why hast thou cast us off forever ?" We hear him 
again, when an exile from his nativity, crying in 
language of intense longing, " My soul thirsteth for 
God, for the living God : When shall I come and ap- 
pear before God?" We view him again as he mourns 
over the defeat and disaster of Israel, and hear him 
sigh in all the distress of utter helplessness, " God, 
thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou bast 
been displeased : turn thyself to us again." And 
again we see him in the hands of his enemies, op- 
pressed by the impious, perfidious, wicked and deceit- 
ful Babylonians, under the government of the unjust 
and arbitrary Nebuchadnezzar, crying, u O my God 
my soul is cast down within me." 

But, as if alarmed at the weakness of his faith, and, 
fearing, lest his soul should turn traitor to him, in 
whom he had trusted, and as if recognizing the im- 
propriety and unjustness of mourning over discour- 



318 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ageinents, with which he had already struggled and 
conquered, and over calamities which were still 
threatening him, he rebukes his soul for its doubt and 
skepticism in the power of God, and in a comfortable 
apostrophe encourages it not to relinquish its trust 
and confidence for a threefold reason : First, that be- 
ing righteous, God would be his judge; second, that 
being merciful, God would plead his cause ; third, that 
being almighty, God would deliver him. He inquires 
of his soul, " Why art thou cast down? why art thou 
disquieted in me? and then with holy firmness and 
Christian devotion, commands it. " Hope thou in God." 

My dear brethren, we find that David is not the 
only man who has succumbed to the influence of op- 
position. Not the only man whose soul has been 
daunted by discouragements. Not the only man whose 
faith has been weakened by shadow and darkness, and 
by the test o fad verse circumstances. Not the only man 
whose heart has been burdened with anguish, and whose 
soul has been borne down by the infirmities of his na- 
ture. We see the indomitable heart of Paul bowed 
down, and hear him longing " to depart and be with 
Christ." We hear the oriental monarch, amidst all 
the emoluments and luxuries, and acquirements of 
the world, sigh, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." 
We hear Isaiah say, "I did mourn as a dove," and 
then sigh, " Lord, I am oppressed j undertake for 
me." We hear Jesus himself, amidst the physical 
pain and agony of the expiring hour, sigh a sigh that 
made the earth and the heavens tremble, " My God, 
why hast thou forsaken me." And from the millions 
of God's children throughout the world, arises the 
sigh freighted with all the melancholy of certain 
anguish, "Is life worth living ?" 

By a close and critical examination, we find that 
that this moral despondency, which has entered so 
largely into the Christian experience of all ages, and 
no less into the religious trial and conflicts of the 
present, has its basis in the influence of external 
circumstances on the internal moral sense. These 
present themselves in forms innumerable as the sands 
of the sea shore, and in degrees of potency proportion- 



Moral Despondency. 319 

ate to their number. The Christian's character is thus 
laid open at every point to the possibilities of an im- 
mediate attack from the internal moral sense, affected 
by the force of external circumstances; and hence 
the necessity of fortifying our characters against the 
assaults of our own natures. Eternal vigilance is not 
the price of liberty only, but the price of Christian 
safety, also. 

It "is our province to endeavor to examine more 
closely the causes of spiritual depression. And we 
remark : 

I. ^MORAL DESPONDENCY IS OFTEN OCCASIONED BY INDI- 
VIDUAL AFFLICTION. 

The more we investigate the motives which incite 
men to Christian activity, that prompt them to labor, 
the more we are convinced that these motives are too 
frequently imbedded in selfish desires and unchristian 
ambition. The closer we analyze the secret impulse 
to action, the more certainly do we discover marks of 
insincerity. And when we place the actions of men, 
as well as the desire that prompts to the action, into 
the crucible of Christian inspection and scrutiny, we 
are frequently startled by the revelation that selfish- 
ness and depraved aspirations form the substratum 
upon which we erect our most conspicuous tabernacle 
of good works. 

Hence comes moral despondency in time of afflic- 
tion, when excruciating bodily pain and physical 
weakness confines us to the sick chamber. Borne 
along on a full tide of prosperity during health ; with 
surrounding circumstances propitious ; playing the 
virtuous part on the public theatre amid the huzzas 
of the multitude ; we are prone to incline toward the 
vice of the accused Pharisee — to lose sight of the great 
end for which we labor,by unintentionally yet unques- 
tionably drifting away in obedience to the suggestions 
of a corrupt ambition. And when we are brought to 
perform the virtuous drama in the shade we become 
dejected. An unaccountable reaction takes place. It 
is easy to emulate even the loftiest conceivable type of 
Christian manhood when such emulation is attended 



320 West Virginia Pulpit. 

with present remuneration. Comparatively easy to 
exhibit moral heroism when everybody's hat is in 
mid air at the deed ; but to retire from public gaze 
and with devoted earnestness and manly intrepidity 
exhibit the same ardor with no encouragement but 
the secret consciousness of having done right, "aye, 
there's the rub." If you were to be stricken down 
this moment with some bodily infirmity that would 
completely disable you through life, and yo*i were 
never again permitted to set foot out of doors, then do 
your duty sitting in your arm chair or lying on your 
bed. Exert that gentle Christian influence, cultivate 
that Christian patience and resignation, exhibit tkat 
certain comfort and help and peace that God bequeaths 
to you as his children, and through affliction perfect 
the Christian graces in your heart, and little do you 
know the good you may accomplish even in the val- 
ley and the shadow, which will tell, God only knows 
what, eternal ages. A work which even a human eye 
may read a thousand ages hence. Despond not; ever 
hope in God. He gave you just those circumstances 
and that location, and those opportunities, and he 
only requires you under those circumstances to do all 
you can. 

II. A SECOND OCCASION FOR MORAL DESPONDENCY IS 
FOUND IN WORLDLY OPPOSITION. 

In the third verse of this Psalm, the Psalmist 
mourns and says, " My tears have been my meat 
day and night, while they continually say unto 
me, Where is thy God?" The Israelites were in cap- 
tivity and the Babylonians, their captors, while hold- 
ing them in complete subjugation, mocked their faith 
in a Divine power, and chafed them with the inter- 
rogation, Where, now, is thy God? The same spirit 
is still abroad in the world. We cannot confess that 
it is the same now in its manifestations and potency 
that it once was. We cannot acknowledge that eigh- 
teen hundred years of Christian ministry and its ac- 
companying benign influence, has done nothing to- 
wards revolutionizing public sentiment, and modify- 
ing the vulnerable and unbelieving criterion of the 



Moral Despondency. 321 

world. Far be it from this. But we do say that vir- 
tually the same spirit exists in an ameliorated form 
in the world to-day. The same spirit presumptuously 
and boldly manifests itself in our own age, and even 
in our own Christian land, however much may be said 
of progress, of civilization, of culture and of religious 
superiority. The same skeptical interrogatory with 
which the" unbelieving Babylonians irritated the Is- 
raelites is still thrust into the face of the believer, from 
some pulpits, from many rostrums, and from many 
more journals. It is a sorrowful fact, a fact too comfort- 
less to be reiterated ; that even some of the clergy in our 
oi^hodox denominations have so far forgotten their 
high and noble calling as to hang out the flag of truce 
on the approach of certain forms of infidel doctrines. 

In vindication of which assertion, I need only refer 
you to the published sentiments of such men as Doc- 
tors Beecher, Cook, and McCosh on the subject of evo- 
lution. Each attaching his signature to the philo- 
sophical technicalities of the other, and all uniting 
to substantiate the unscrupulous teachings of tne six 
great English and German scientists. Endeavoring to 
effect a compromise between the inner teachings of 
this blessed book and modern so called science. True 
science and revelation do agree, and all philosophy is 
but the crystalized gems of the word of eternal truth. 

" Religion and revelation have found friends in the friends of scienc 
And true prayer has flowed from lips wet with Castalian dews." 

But these commotions and contentions and com- 
promises, cause spirits of doubt to rise in your hearts, 
and we frequently find ourselves revolving the ques- 
tion, "May I not be wrong? May not the Bible be a 
cunningly devised fable V 9 and we are led to despond. 
Such epochs as this are found in every man's history. 
They are the darkest hours we ever experience. These 
considerations and doubts constitute what in the terse 
strong language of the great Roman historian is called 
the " crises of the soul." Allowing such considera- 
tions as these to find an entrance into the heart, will 
cast a shadow over the brightest experience, and is a 
treason, which, if not immediately expiated will in- 
evitably seal your damnation. 

Drive back such ideas, Advertently shrink from 



322 West Virginia Pulpit. 

entertaining such thoughts. Let the world scoff and 
oppose. Let atheists and moralists and materialists 
and sceptics pour forth their maledictions against your 
faith and your religion. Let combinations of wicked 
men who have set themselves against Christianity as 
a Divine scheme, hurl their futile resources of anath- 
ema at your religion and your Bible. It may seem 
dark and doubtful; but I tell you my friend, it is in- 
finitely darker without hope and without God in the 
world. u Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neith- 
er be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and 
wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do 
good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou 
shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he 
shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy 
way unto the Lord; trust also in him." Here is the 
remedy. This is the panacea offered by the Great 
Physician. It is the philosopher's stone — the true se- 
cret. "Hope thou in God." 

III. A THIRD OCCASION FOR MORAL DESPONDENCY MAY 
ARISE FROM A SEEMING COLDNESS AND DESOLATION IN 
THE CHURCH. 

In the verse preceding our text, David says, "When 
I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; 
for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them 
to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, 
with a multitude that kept holiday." Now this was 
no more. All was mourning in Zion, and desolation 
in his captivity. This it was that operated on the 
heart of David,causing him to despair and go mourning. 

In no department of Christian activity do we want 
to stand alone, and from no one thing do we receive so 
much encouragement as from the consideration that 
at our right hand and left there are others who are 
fighting, working, who will undergo danger and con- 
test the field with us. It sweetens all of our battle- 
fields if we know we have comrades who will aid us. 
We love association. We love the sound of the friend- 
ly voice, and the pressure of the friendly hand, and 
the communion of the friendly heart. We love sym- 



Moral Despondency. 323 

pathy, and nothing more nerves us to heroic endur- 
ance — to indefatigable, uncompromising, unwavering 
Christian activity — than the sympathetic co-operation 
of others — than to hear the sound of the friendly voice 
and the familiar tramp of the comrade by our side. 
You know, every one of you knows the omnipotence 
of social influence. Tell the warrior who goes forth 
to battle, that he must face the enemy alone, and he 
goes reluctantly. But tell him to repair to the mus- 
ter ground and there he will find a regiment of com- 
rades, and his patriotic heart is enthused and he goes 
willingly. 

The same course of reasoning holds good with regard 
to the Church. The Church which was once crowded 
with an anxious audience is now almost deserted. The 
Church which once resounded with hallelujahs and 
praise to God, seems to have well nigh lost its vital 
godliness. Schisms and dissensions have arisen. The 
sheep have strayed away from the sheep fold without 
a shepherd. The once manifestly emotional and deep- 
ly spiritual service has evolved into a rigid formal 
service, and the members are all clothed in the stiff 
robes of Pharaseeism. Oh, how your hearts despond 
and you think there is no use trying any longer. 
" Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good 
pleasure to give you the kingdom. 7 ' This hard path 
you are traveling may be the safest one for your feet. 
God works in mysterious ways. He has thousands of 
ways by which he makes the transactions of this 
word conducive to the interests of his Church. It may 
look hard and dark and unfruitful now ; but know 
this, in a future waiting, beyond the reach of present 
uncertainties, these mysteries will all be explained. 
The prophetic day whose labor is to demonstrate un- 
solved problems and whose penetrating scrutiny will 
remove the impervious incrustations from all myste- 
ries, will exhibit to you these misty spots of your ex- 
perience in the luminous light of truth. 

And now, in conclusion, let me urge you, never de- 
spond. As you start out on the boisterous sea of life, 
navigating a track untraveled by any of your ances- 
tors, but to be criticised by all your posterity, let me 



324 West Virginia Pulpit. 

urge you to start out with hearts sustained, ennobled, 
strengthened, secured, by an indomitable trust in 
God. I am aware that it is a hard thing for a man to 
be a devout, holy, consecrated Christian. It requires 
a vast deal of moral stamina of genuine courage. 0, 
it requires courage and manly heroism to stand by the 
truth ! To stand by it when it is unpopular, and un- 
profitable. I tell you it takes grace and developed 
Christian manhood, to prosecute a successful and un- 
remitting warefare against the incoming tide of prev- 
alent vices. But proudly raise yourselves. Go forth 
boldly to do and dare. Begin this warfare with the 
first enemy. Stretch forth your hand and shout "The 
sword of the Lord and of Gideon," and in the name of 
God you shall prevail. You will have disparagements ; 
but ah, my brethern, let us never succumb to the 
creeping paralysis of despair. Many a saint has felt 
as overwhelmingly as did David, or Moses, or Job. 
But from the lives of all Christ's saints — nay, from the 
Cross of Christ — nay, from heaven itself, like the cap- 
tain's shout which reinspires the wavering battle, the 
voice comes to us Courage ! This voice may not come 
to us in the stentorian tones of Sinai. It may come 
noiselessly, almost imperceptibly. It may come like 
the tender melody of a half forgotten song. It may 
come like a ripple of light from a distant star. It 
may come like a tremulous cadence from a far off 
shore. No difference how it comes, the voice will come 
to us Courage ! and so rekindle the u faith which can 
alone sweeten and brighten life." Courage! You 
will have trials. The prophets were persecuted. The 
apostles fought with men as with wild beasts. Your 
Divine Redeemer was tempted, yet without sin. 

Dream not of rest and freedom. I tell you, you will 
have discouragements and conflicts, and heartbreaks. 
It is a part of the Divine plan that you shuuld suffer 
and be strong, and then quit like men. There never 
will be a day that you will not feel a sadness of heart. 
There is no escape from it. These pains and heart- 
aches are graven on the hearts of millions, with a 
burning stylus, and you never will be free from them 
till you get within the gates of your Father's house 



Moral Despondency. 325 

and join in the chorus u unto him who hath loved us 
and washed us in his blood/' 

The past may have been dark and the future may 
be Cimmerian. The past may have been battle and 
the future may now be full of gloom and apprehen- 
sion. But hope in God. In all your past experience 
you have never had an hour so dark but if you looked 
above you, you could see the hand of God and the bow 
of " peace and promise." In all your past battles you 
have never perished, nor have you ever known of the 
weakest one being conquered if calmly hoping and 
firmly trusting in God. How could they be conquered ? 
I tell you 'twere an easier thing to move the everlast- 
ing granite of the hills than to move that man or wo- 
man who has his feet firmly planted on " the Rock of 
Ages." How could they be conquered ? Christianity 
knows no defeat. The path of Christianity is strewn 
with victorious trophies, and her battle fields are cov- 
ered with the fragments of her slain. And standing 
on this lofty eminence of Christian aggression, with 
the twilight of the twentieth century already flood- 
ing the fading campfires of the nineteenth, I bless 
God I can look down the long dark avenues of the 
past and say, Christianity always has conquered; and 
turning my gaze adown the misty future, I bless God 
I can triumphantly say, she always will conquer. 
I see her stepping over toppling thrones and crumb- 
ling dynasties, with the diadem of universal empire 
on her brow and the scepter of undisputed royalty in 
her hand, and with the glory of youth in her coun- 
tenance, driving her enemies before her like chaff 
before the whirlwind ; and ever and anon amid the 
din of the battle, I can hear the clear ringing tones 
of her Great Commander shouting " All Hall ! be not 
afraid." Thus she is going on to eternal victory. No 
earthly power can hinder her in her onward course ; for 
"one shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten 
thousand to flight." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Key. James B. Fitzpatrick, now stationed at Zane Street M. 
E. Church, Wheeling, is a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia. 
On the 26th day of November last, he rounded up a half century 
of life. His father belonged to an old Irish family, and was born and 
reared in Ireland. He came to this country when a young man 
married a Virginia lady, and spent the remainder of his life in 
that noted Commonwealth. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in Virginia Schools ; 
and in November, 1855, when twenty -three years of age, he en- 
tered the ministry of the M. E. Church, South, in the Virginia 
Conference. He remained in this Conference up to, and during 
the war, although a portion of the time he was in the army, 
and was in some of the hottest battles fought during that 
great struggle. After hostilities closed, and when the Virginia 
Conference territory north of the Eappahannock was transferred 
to the Baltimore Conference, Brother Fitzpatrick fell into the 
Baltimore connection ; and at once took high rank as a preacher. 

In 1872, at the close of his second year in Harrisonburg, he was 
compelled to move South on account of enfeebled health. He was 
accordingly transferred to the Florida Conference, and was sta- 
tioned at Tallahassee and Jacksonville, serving three years in each 
of these cities. His health was entirely restored by the balmy air 
of the Southland, and receiving a call to St. James Church, 
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, he went thither, and remained one 
year. Finding the climate undesirable, he returned to Ken- 
tucky, and came from there to the West Virginia Conference, M. 
E. Church, and was stationed at Zane Street, Wheeling, in Oc- 
tober 1872. 

Brother Fitzpatrick is no ordinary preacher. He is a man of 
unquestioned ability. He has a rich and vivid imagination ; is 
deliberate and methodical in speech, and never fails to command 
the attention of his hearers. The impassioned portions of his 
sermons are intensely dramatic ; and he has just enough of the 
Celt in his make-up, to enable him at times, by his shining wit, 
and grotesque personations, to occasion a complete captivation 
of his audience. 

As Brother Fitzpatrick has only recently come among us, I 
give below a few paragraphs from different newspapers in towns 
and cities where he has been stationed : 

The Harrisonburg (Va.) Commonwealth, speaking of Brother 
F.'s lecture on " Lot's Wife," says : "The lecture was intensely 



James B. Fitzpatrick. 327 

entertaining and impressive. Mr. Fitzpatrick is one of the ablest 
pulpit orators of the Baltimore Conference." 

The Shepherdstown (W. Va.) Register, speaking of Brother 
F.'s transfer from that place to Harrisonburg, Virginia, remarks : 
" He is an able and forcible speaker — none more so in the Balti- 
more Conference ; and while this community feels loth to part 
with him, we congratulate the people of Harrisonburg upon re- 
ceiving so eloquent, faithful and earnest a minister of the 
Gospel." 

The Jacksonville (Fla.) Union, alluding to Brother F.'s transfer 
to Hamilton, Ontario, compliments him in the following lan- 
guage : " The many friends of Rev. Mr. Fitzpatrick, while re- 
joicing at his prosperity, will regret to hear that he has accepted 
a position that removes him from this city, where he is so well 
and favorably known, and where it was hoped he would remain 
long and build up the cause he had espoused. We wish our 
friend every success in his new field ; and knowing him as we 
do, we have little doubt that he will soon become as popular in 
Canada as he is in Florida." 

The Church wherein he now ministers is well filled every Sab- 
bath with anxious auditors. With such a pastor, I take it, no 
Church will be afflicted with lethargy ; but on the contrary, it 
will always be awake, alive, and abreast of the times. 



SERMON XXVI. 



BY 



REV. JAMES B. FITZPATRICK. 



Theme:— WILL IT PAY. 

Text : — "Godliness is profitable unto all things." — I Timothy 



iv : 



It is Morning : we take our stand upon the top of 
that mountain just there;* we turn our faces to the 
East. The sun has just driven his chariot through 
the gates of the Orient, and with his golden sceptre 
chased the night away. In the distance we see the 
beautiful Ohio winding its way like a thread of silver, 
amid a woof of beautiful emerald ; here and there a 
boat proudly rides upon the sparkling water. There, 
just in front of us, lies farm against farm. The plow- 
man turns the sod. The dairyman drives forth his 
wagon. The children are moving happily away to 
school. 'Tis a beautiful picture : all is life, energy, 
enterprise. We will now turn our faces westward. 
The city is almost at our feet ; black clouds are lifting 
up there sooty heads from a hundred " smoke stacks,'' 
and spreading out into one great heavy cloud, covering 
and hiding from our view, Church and State House. 
Here and there, fire leaps like lurid lightning from 
this dark valley ; and from beneath it all we hear the 
deep toned roll, as of far off thunder. What means all 
this ? We will descend and see. 

'•'Wheeling hill. 



Will it Pay. 329 

We are now in the streets ; an hundred furnaces in 
full blast. Vulcan swings the sledge; the throb of 
the great engine's heart is heard on every hand. That 
thunder is the roll of commerce. Cars are arriving 
and departing. Clerks and salesmen, all are rushing 
hither and thither. The lawyer urges his case before 
the judge. The banker is busy at his counter. All is 
energy, push and noise. What does all this mean ? 
Surely the people are not all crazy. Surely this 
is not a great lunatic asylum we have gotten in- 
to ? No, they are not crazy, they are simply tr}dng to 
settle the question, "Will it pay ?" and settle it affirm- 
atively. They are all after money, and I don't blame 
them for that. Money is a good thing and has many 
uses. It secures ease, brings you comfort, enables a 
man to breathe the pure mountain air, drink mineral 
waters, and bathe in the sea. With it people can 
purchase fine houses and elegant furniture, costly silks 
and beautiful flowers, and feathers and jewels, and 
make themselves look pretty, when without it they 
would be as ugly as sin. In fact, it often makes a 
man somebody, when without it he would be nobody 
at all. On the other hand it enables people to build 
churches, and parsonages ; send the Gospel to the hea- 
then; bring joy to the heart of the widow, and dry 
the orphan's tears ; and cause the flowers to spring up 
along the path of the poor. 

It will pay ! The avocations of the world pay. 
Men make them pay. Now, will religion pay ? This 
question may startle you, but it is not sacrilege to ask 
it. We have a right to ask this question. We are 
willing to submit Christianity to this test. If it will 
not pay, then let it go. Away with it ! 

1. Will it pay the country and the world? Go to 
India; grand country; beautiful mountains; lovely 
vales; and grand rivers; sweep on through the post 
Vedic and Vedic periods, until you find the fully 
developed Brahman, w T ith his lofty countenance 
and stately stepping, ruling the land; while a subtle 
Pantheism roots itself every where in the soil of Hin- 
doo thought. Where are her railroads, telegraph lines, 
institutions of learning ? Where her commerce and 
22 



330 West Virginia Pulpit. 

civilization? They are not. Christianity has not yet 
poured her bountiful beauty upon that land Buddha 
leaped from the Jungles of Uruvela and cried in the 
ears of all men, "Cease from sin, get virtue, cleanse 
the heart; this is the doctrine of Buddha." Still, 
this did not yield the revenue for which the heart 
yearned, and the nature struggled. 0, lift up the Cross 
in that beautiful land, and then I am sure a voice will 
ere long come back, " It will pay.' 7 

Look out over Egypt — grand old Egypt. The cra- 
dle of all the civilizations ; the birth place of history, 
with the channels of thought poisoned by the teach- 
ings of the Prophet of Mecca. Grand old countries 
prostrate beneath the foot of the Turk. A moral siroc- 
co has swept over the land. Only here and there a 
blossom blooms. 

Sweep on around the globe, Behold the oldest em- 
pire of the world, China! Old moss-grown China; 
with its four hundred millions of souls. Her founda- 
tions were laid before Alexander had fought a battle; 
before Plato saw the light; before Romulus had found- 
ed the walls of the western empire. Old stubborn 
China! The Brahmin, the Budddhist, the Parsee, and 
Confucius have all tried to lift her into the sunlight 
of a better civilization. Still, she is carrying coal to 
her cites on horseback ; and until five years ago, she 
was locked up in darkness, having no other promise 
after death than an eternal sleep, or at best the heav- 
enly Nervana. 

But we will turn away from this dark picture. Now, 
look at those countries blessed with the presence and 
power of our holy Christianity. What has she done 
for them? She has cut down the forests ; plowed up the 
prairies; cut through the mountains; built up cities 
and towns ; erected churches, school houses and hos- 
pitals ; mines have been laid open, and the treasures of 
the mountains have been poured into the coffers of the 
nations. She has elevated the morals; enlarged the 
charities; quelled animosities; polished society every- 
where she has gone. A message to Europe is only the 
work of an hour. A trip across an ocean, or a conti- 
nent, is but the pastime of a week. Christianity lifts 



Will it Pay ? 331 

up the mind of a people to a higher plane, " and 
strengthens the intellect for discovery." Science walks 
safely only when she places her hand in the hand of 
Christianity. Guardian ot the country — no ship of 
state has ever sunk while she was on board. Let her 
fair hand be on the wheel, and the stormking may 
fling his lightnings and hurl his bolts crashing 
through the billows, as they leap to smite the clouds. 
The deep toned thunders may crash from shore to 
shore, still she will outride the storm. The clouds will 
melt away, the air will be filled with sweet music, 
and redolent of the odor of sweet spices, wafted from 
the land of promise. Will religion pay the nations? 
Let them answer, and if they u forget not the hole of 
the pit whence they aredigged," the evidence will come 
up in thunder tones, corroborating the statement of 
the Apostle, " Godliness is profitable unto all things." 

I say here this evening, that it is my honest belief, 
that the American people are more deeply indebted to 
our holy Christianity, and to her faithful ministers, for 
everything that is necessary to the true happiness and 
prosperity of a people, than to all the statesmen, and 
all the warriors the country has ever produced; and the 
sooner this truth is learned and properly appreciated, 
the better it will be for the whole country. Oh, ye na- 
tions of the earth, come and shake hands around the 
Cross. Embrace each other at the Open Sepulchre. 
Come, and here on the anvil of eternal truth, '"beat your 
swords into plowshares and your spears into pruning 
hooks, and let the people learn that it is not politics, 
but godliness alone that can bring together and ce- 
ment in the bonds of brotherhood, all the sections of 
our country, and enable us to send back its history 
to be filed with the folios of eternity, as well as to be 
read by all the ages, proclaiming from this grand na- 
tional standpoint that " godliness is profitable unto 
all things." 

2. Let us carry this text into the realm of personal 
or individual experience. We will take it to the bat- 
tle field. The contest has begun. The skirmishers 
have been withdrawn. The struggle has commenced. 
They go in by regiments. I hear the roll of the mus- 



332 West Virginia Pulpit. 

ketry! Now, the brigades pass forward! The artillery 
now begins to thunder forth shot and shell ! The no- 
ble fellows are falling on every hand ! Now, behold ! 
An army corps pivoting~on the enemy's centre swings 
toward our right. We are ready. They meet ! they 
meet !! The shock is like that of an earthquake ! 
Crash ! crash ! crash ! crash ! The worst has come. 
Charge bayonets ! rings out along the line. There is 
where that noble^boy fell. The work is done. The 
dreadful bloody work. Night comes on. The moon 
coldly looks down on the scene. There lies a splendid 
boy. He was his mother's darling. He is dying. Stoop 
and listen ! He has a message for you. What is it ? 
"Tell mother to meet me in Heaven." Oh, sirs, what 
is religion worth to the dying soldier ? Or, what is it 
now worth to that mother, whose heart went to the 
grave with her boy ? Go pile your gold at her feet. 
Purchase her hopes if you can. No, no; Croesus never 
was rich enough for that. 

But the campfires are again kindled. The Chap- 
lain asks the Colonel to have the men called togeth- 
er, and he will pray with them. Presently that long 
roll is sounded. A hymn is sung, and we are about to 
kneel in prayer. The General appears and is called 
on to pray ; and oh ! such a prayer. How tender ; how 
loving ; how he pleads for the mother of that boy. 
How he lifts, on the arms of his faith, the widow and 
children of that burly soldier, who was shot dead upon 
the field, and how urgent he interceded for the noble 
fellowswho are wounded and still live. All are in tears ; 
think you those boys would not die for such a man? 
Will they ever refuse to obey a command from his 
lips. No ; never. They will cover him all over with 
glory, or die on the next field in his defense. As a 
soldier and officer his religion is worth more to him 
than his salary. It is without price. 

Take it into the storehouse. There it makes a man 
honest. His weights and measures are fully up to the 
standard. His yardstick measures thirty-six inches 
every time. He never sells sheepskin gloves, declar- 
ing that they are kid, or paper soled shoes for leather. 
What he says is the truth. People find this out and 



Will it Pay. 333 

they trust his judgment, and bestow upon him their 
patronage. Nothing pays him so well. It is his best 
investment. While the godless cheat, whose mouth 
is filled with falsehood, whose thumb slips on the yard- 
stick an inch to his own advantage every time — such 
a fellow may prosper for a while, but ultimately his 
sins will find him out and crush him, if not in this 
life, most surely in the life to come. 

Take it into the family, and the members of that 
household are clad in the beautiful robes of a spotless 
virtue. There you will find the most affectionate pa- 
rents, the most dutiful and loving children. That 
husband loves his wife, and thinks she is good enough 
to be the Queen of England; and that wife looks with 
pride upon her husband, and esteems him as the no- 
blest of all men. He may be an humble hard work- 
ing man. He may come every evening from the blaz- 
ing mouth of one of our furnaces, with his hard, bony 
hands, and sooty garments. No matter ; he is one of 
God's noblemen, and she knows it. Or he may come 
from one of those coal mines across the way there, 
with his face as black as the face of Ham, and his lit- 
tle lamp fastened to the front of his cap. (God bless 
him, I have great respect for the coal digger. I am 
more deeply indebted to him than I am to the Presi- 
dent of the United States. We can't do without the 
miner). His light has been shining all day in that 
dark cavron. Now he goes to shed a purer light on 
his little home circle. His best investment is his 
faith in Christ. 

There is a man just along side of him. He enters 
his hovel with horrid oaths upon his lips. His chil- 
dren hide from him. His wife trembles at the foot- 
fall of the brute ! Whose influence is that man un- 
der ? Whose teaching does he follow ? Not the teach- 
ing of our God. No, no. The god of bottles has charge 
of him, Ah ! my brother, the wages of sin is death. 

Take it into the home of the rich. Christianity is 
the rich man's best safeguard. He walks through his 
splendid halls. The finest carpets yield softly be- 
neath his tread. The walls are adorned with the work 
of the best artists. His library is filled, alcove above 



334 West Virginia Pulpit. 

alcove, with the best of books. His table is well sup- 
plied with the delicacies of a Continent. But he real- 
izes that his noblest mansion is that " house whose 
maker and builder is God," When he goes to his ta- 
ble he first implores food for the soul. The most loved 
and beautiful picture on the wall, is the picture of 
Jesus paying the sinner's penalty ; and the most 
highly prized and carefully read book in that library, 
is the Word of God. In such a man the widow and 
orphan find a true friend; the Church an earnest 
helper; the school a staunch supporter; the country 
a true patriot and defender. Oh ! that we had more 
of them. Everyone loves such men, and God loves 
them, too. 

There is another alongside of him. He is a manu- 
facturer. Perhaps he runs a nail factory. He has a 
godless heart within. He looks upon that hard work- 
ing man simply as a machine, out of whose labor he 
can get so much money. If he could get his nail 
feeder to work for two cents a hundred, he would 
doubtless do it, and grind the poor fellow's wife and 
children into perpetual poverty. He has no use for 
Churches. He would give nothing to schools, if he 
were not forced to do it by law. His nail feeder gives 
more to the poor than he does. In fact, he has no 
use for the poor, if they are not his slaves, serving 
him under the keen lash of necessity. No wonder 
they despise him. No wonder they feel like taking 
vengeance on him. 0, how much better for him and 
them if he would follow the example of his neigh- 
bor, and invest somewhat in that grandest and best 
of all conservators, Christianity. This he would 
find far better than his hundreds of thousands in gold. 

Bring Christianity into the house of mourning. 
Put it to the test there. The doctor has done all he 
could. The husband and father is dead. A cloud as 
black as a triple midnight, has fallen upon those 
hearts. The arm upon which that woman leaned is 
cold and rigid in death. The heart that loved so 
tenderly, the mind that planned so incessantly, all, 
all now lie a heap of ruins. Hopes are blasted. Ex- 
pectations are disappointed. Hearts are broken. Are 



Will it Pay. 335 

they? No, sir, — not broken. That was a good man. 
He leaped from gloom to glory, with the shout of vic- 
tory ringing from those cold lips. That shout rent 
the cloud, as it descended and the widowed heart 
leaped after the ascending spirit and cast its anchor 
within the vail. Angels came down to whisper words 
of comfort. Hope spans the grave with the bow of 
promise. Heaven is more attractive, because the 
loved and gone is there. Go ask that bruised, but 
not broken reed, what religion is worth. Open the 
mountains of California and bring forth their treas- 
ures. Purchase if you can, that woman's hope of the 
future. That heavy blow, tempered with Christianity, 
was but the prophesy of the coming glory. Price it 
if you can! Gold crumbles away to dust. Jewels 
lose their brilliancy. All sources of profit blush to 
shame in the presence of this. Here " Godliness alone 
is profitable," for it alone brings the benediction of 
God. 

But the best is yet to come. We must lay aside this 
cumbrous body. Now we are free. We will mount 
the chariot of eternal truth. An angel leads the 
way. We drive on up the jeweled pathway — on and 
on — up, up and away past the sun, moon and stars. 
The Golden Gate stands open. We enter the City of 
God. Behold its streets of gold ! Its walls of jasper ! 
Its sunny domes and stary pinnacles! The River of 
Life ! The plains of bliss ! See those crowns ! Glorious 
crowns ! more brilliant than the sun. Those palms, 
whose greenness the cycles never fade. There is Abel 
the first martyr, Abraham, and the patriarchs pro- 
phets and apostles. Above all there is the Lamb im- 
maculate — Jesus the Lord. There are our fathers and 
mothers — our children There they come, clothed 
with eternal youth and unchanging beauty. Music from 
heaven's grand orchestra, rolls and revyeberates and 
charms and melts away in the distance. Here is life ! 
life ! No hearse ever passed these streets. No orphans 
cry was ever heard in that happy country. No widow 
ever wept. There is your child, my brother; you 
thought he was lost in the wilds of the West ; but 
there he is j long parted friends meet to embrace and 



336 West Virginia Pulpi?. 

love forever. No death there. The lines of our life 
run parallel with the lines of God's existence, and are 
alike interminable. Our lamp has been " lit by the 
divine radiance, and burning so near the source that 
feeds, it shall never be extinguished." Roll on the cy- 
cles ! and still we live, we live and love. Let the 
grand old arches of the universe decay, and breaking 
crash, and tumble into ruins ! Let Destiny's clock, 
high up on heaven's highest dome, that pealed forth 
in joyous stroke, when the world was born, now sound 
its doom. While the angel of destruction, commis- 
sioned by Almighty God, drives forth his chariot, and 
beneath his thunderous tread grinds a thousand 
worlds to powder, and flings ten thousand into chaos, 
wild, and still we live and love and sing on. Roll on the 
cycles, but the eye grows not dim, the limbs tremble 
not, the locks proclaim not age. 

Will religion pay ? I listen to the millions on mil- 
lions, who have died for it here, and millions who 
have had but little else int his world, and they answer 
back from that blest world, and answering like the 
" sound of many waters," they declare that " Godli- 
ness is profitable unto all things." Oh, sirs, seek this, 
the boon above price! Without it you will be the 
sport of temptation ; without it, life will be a hard 
struggle at best, death the victor, and the soul, at last, 
sink beneath eternal gloom. " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ;" and you may 
— you will ere long join the blood-washed throng, and 
throughout eternity leave your testimony to the truth- 
fulness of this text, " Godliness is profitable unto all 
thing, having the promise of the life that now is, and 
that which is to come." 



PERSONAL SKETCH. 



Rev. Joseph Edmund Smith was born of Christian parents in 
Queen Anne's county. Maryland, the very centre oi the classic- 
soil of American Methodism. He was early and thoroughly 
drilled in the great truths of the Gospel, and shortly after attain- 
ing his sixteenth year he became a Christian, and united with 
the M. E. Church. Possessed of an inquiring mind, he has ever 
been an eager student. His early advantages were not great, 
but his mastery of the fundamentals of an education was thor- 
ough, and enabled him to pursue his studies with advantage. 
He is and has been, through his entire life, a tireless student. 
He has intermeddled with almost all knowledge. The sciences 
are his especial delight. The conviction that he was to enter 
the ministry grew upon him after his conversion, and though 
it clashed with other cherished plans oi life, he yielded to the 
Spirit's summons, and in the spring of 1857, joined the Phila- 
delphia Conference, on trial. His career as a preacher has been, 
in some respects, remarkable. Success has crowned his efforts 
on every field. 

In the spring of 1861 he was on a large Circuit in Delaware. 
The breaking out of the war caused,, there, as elsewhere, great 
excitement. Delaware sympathized with the rebellion. Dr. 
Smith had been but four years in the ministry . and was sur- 
rouded by a people who. mall political matters were completely 
under the control of party leaders, but he did not hesitate a 
moment. He was the first man in the State to preach upon the 
duties of the citizen to his country. The leaders of the opposi- 
tion threatened his life, but he boldly thundered his convictions 
from nearly every pulpit of his circuit and then printed, and 
scattered his sermon through the entire community. 

Afterward a number of his friends urged him to allow the use 
of his name as a candidate for Congress. Under the circum- 
stances he would probably have been elected, but he refused to 
turn aside from his chosen work. He is a thorough Methodist. 
Other Churches have sought his services in vain. Just before 
his coming to Wheeling, he was asked to become the pastor of 
a city church of another denomination at a salary of So, 000 per 
year. He of course refused. 

In the spring of 1S65 he was stationed in Fifth Street Church, 
Philadelphia. Since then he has served the following Churches: 
Twelfth Street, Philadelphia; Lancaster, Pa.; Grace Church 



338 Rev. Joseph E. Smith. 

Wilmington, Del.; First Church, Wilkesbarre, Pa.; First Church, 
Scranton, Pa.: and in October last he was transferred to this 
Conference and stationed at Fourth Street Church, Wheeling. 

At each of these Churches he remained the full term of three 
years, except Scranton, which, at the earnest solicitation of the 
people of Fourth Street, he left in the middle of his third year. 

Dr. Smith ranks among the best pulpit orators in Methodism. 
Simplicity is among the most marked features in his sermons. 
He is always clear in the analysis of his subjects ; and yet, his 
logic is not of that severe order, which, with so many of our min- 
isters, swallows up the interest of the discourse. He is, there- 
fore, logical and interesting, as well. He is eloquent ; and at the 
same time his eloquence is native to the soul — not assumed after 
any exterior fashion, for the mere production of artificial effect, 
which is so common in this age, but is real, feeling, persuading. 

Another of the attractive features of Dr. Smith's preach- 
ing is his power of illustration. I mean no disrespect when I 
say that he is a beautiful word-painter. His illustrations are 
mainly drawn from the great storehouse of Nature. In her 
school he has studied profoundly ; and rich were the revelations 
his teacher made concerning the ways of obtaining access to the 
minds and hearts of his hearers. 

His literary taste is exquisite. He possesses, to a very great 
extent, a quick and accurate sense of the beautiful. He is, there- 
fore, poetical in his nature ; and being both gentle and humble, 
his productions, which are always models of pure English, im- 
press themselves delightfully upon the mind, and feelingly upon 
the heart. 

The Doctor is an extemporaneous preacher. He uses neither 
manuscript nor notes. Still, his sermons are anything but un- 
premeditated effusions. I have not known him long, but my 
acquaintance, thus far, justifies me in asserting, that his prepa- 
rations for the pulpit evince the full consecration of all the pow- 
ers of his mind, and the best use of all the resources of knowl- 
edge within his reach. He writes his sermons before delivering 
them ; and though always rich in thought and logical in their 
arrangement, the verbiage, purposely, it would seem, is left for 
the moment of delivery. He is popular — always has large con- 
gregations, and is thoroughly devoted to his high calling. 

In June 1877, Dickinson College honored him with the degree 
of Master of Arts, and at the same time Franklin and Marshall 
College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Divinity. 

The Northern Christian Advocate, to which Dr. Smith has 
been a regular contributor for years, said, in speaking of the 
Doctor's transfer from Scranton "to Wheeling, " In the transfer 
of Dr. Smith, Wheeling gains what Scranton loses, one of the 
most literary men of the Methodist Episcopal Church." 



SERMON XXVII 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH E. SMITH, D.D. 



Theme:— THE ATTRACTION OF THE CROSS. 

Text: — And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me. — John xii : 32. 

Attraction is the great law of the universe. It is 
subject to no change, knows no variation, admits of 
no exception. Its subtle power fathoms all distances 
and is felt across all space. It controls all objects, 
whether atoms or worlds, and, with equal ease, it 
binds a monad, swings a planet, or chains a system. 
Its laws are simple and invariable. Let science con- 
tend as to the mode ; the facts are plain. Whether it 
be a power inhering in all matter, or an external 
power working through matter, the result is the 
same. There is that in every power that attracts; 
a power ceaseless, changeless, eternal. A power im- 
palpable to the touch, invisible to the eye, incogniza- 
ble by any of the senses; and yet, a power that works 
with tireless energy through all seons of time, bring- 
ing order out of confusion, harmony out of discord, 
and beauty and perfection from the conflicting con- 
geries of the primordial elements. 

The power of gravitation is in precise proportion to 
the bulk and density of its object. Given a world of 
sufficient size and density, and it becomes a centre 
about which every sun and system of the universe 
whirls in unvarying cycles, and every farthest and 



340 West Virginia Pulpii?. 

smallest atom of creation, hears, and obeys the un- 
spoken mandate. 

In the realm of the intellect, and of the soul this 
law has its analogies. What atoms are to atoms, and 
worlds to worlds, so is mind to mind, and heart to 
heart. There is a universe of intellect, of feeling and 
of affection. A realm where thoughts, affections, 
purposes, yearnings, aspirations, will, are the atoms 
and molecules. With matter the power of attraction 
is fixed and definite. No atom can change its potency. 
With spirit the law is equally inflexible; but spirit 
has in itself possibilities to which the atom is a 
stranger. The spirit may advance from feebleness to 
power, from obscurity to the prominence of a central 
orb. A man may go down to the grave leaving no 
perceptible mark upon the world's thought; or, he 
may stretch across all continents and reach down all 
ages, and give current to the thought, and color to the 
life of men to the latest hour of time. Homer and 
Virgil, Moses and Plato, David and Paul swing about 
them the world's thinkers as the sun its satelites. 
The bearing of these facts upon our subject is obvi- 
ous. Our text was the utterance of an obscure peas- 
ant of Galilee. He was destitute of wealth, fame, 
hereditary honors, or a following worthy of the name; 
and yet, he foretold a time when he should become 
the world's central magnet, attracting and binding 
all men to himself. The prophecy was stupendous. 
From any but the God-man it had been madness. No 
mere man may expect to sway the sceptre of univer- 
sal empire. Human genius may thrill the nations, 
but it cannot bind them. It lacks the bulk and den- 
sity that would make it a world centre. Distance 
weakens its grasp, time rusts it, attrition wears it. 
Its power declines in inverse proportion to the square 
of the distances. God alone can seize the hearts of 
earth's teeming millions, and give vitality to the 
cord that binds the weakest and furthest spirit atom 
to himself forever. 

But, if the announcement was stupendous, the 
means by which it was to be accomplished was still 
more surprising. The Cross was the symbol of a 



The Attraction of The Cross. 341 

slave's torture. Inspiration itself had proclaimed, 
" Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." And, 
yet, the Cross was to become the world's centre. Christ 
crucified was to captivate all hearts and become the 
one object in which all men should glory, verily it 
was a prophesy that only history could vindicate. 

The progress of eighteen centuries proves it true. 
The Cross has lost its shame, and has become the 
synonym of all virtue and nobleness, goodness and 
greatness. It has become an evangel in all lands, 
and it has won its triumphs from among all peo- 
ples. All men are its enemies, and yet everywhere 
the heart's enmities are subdued by its presence, 
and all souls are attracted by its silent power. Sin 
ners become saints, and persecutors apostles at its 
mighty touch. It captures to liberate, binds to enno- 
ble, humbles to transfigure and save. Who shall ex- 
plain the mystery? Its shame has become its glory. 
This root out of dry ground has become the chiefest 
of ten thousand and altogether lovely. The hated, 
despised, persecuted, abandoned, crucified Nazarine is 
a king with hearts for an empire. He has brought 
desires, affections, impulses, yearning?, yea, even the 
imaginations into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 
Men count it their highest glory to suffer and even 
to die for him. They forsake home and country and 
friends ; tread beneath their feet ease and fortune 
and fame; defy danger and persecution; accept toil 
and trial; live unknown, die unhonored for the sake 
of telling of his love, and of winning trophies for his 
cause. Such are the facts. They demand our most 
careful study. We inquire, 

I. WHAT ARE THE LAWS OP SPIRITUAL ATTRACTION? 

So far as we can see, everything earthly and heav- 
enly is subject to laws. These laws may be unknown 
— perchance they are, by us, incomprehensible ; yet, 
they exist, and by them, or in accordance with them, 
are the mightiest achievements produced. But the 
Cross is divine, and so is nature; and the salvation 
of the soul no less than the flowering of a shrub is in 
accordance with inviolable law. 



342 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Alike in nature and in grace it may be said, "And 
hitherto my Father worketh." What then are the 
laws of spiritual attraction ? 

1. The first condition of attraction is similarity of 
nature. I speak with reverence, Christ is Divine. 
I speak with emphasis, Jesus is man. Like only at- 
tracts like. Matter can never pass the bounds of the 
Divine decree and attract spirit. The Divine and the 
human must have something in common. Though 
broken and marred we still possess the Divine image. 

Spirituality is nonforfeitable. God and man are 
eternally allied. We find that among men the soul is 
not insulated by either purity or impurity. Spirit 
attracts spirit whether up or down. God crosses the 
chasm of the infinite, and in the form of the finite 
stands by our side, speaks to our heart and draws our 
spirit. Beasts and birds may have somewhat in com- 
mon with God as the spark is akin to the central sun, 
but they have not enough to lift them to divine con- 
templation and to twine about them the tether of di- 
vine attraction. Man feels in Christ the touch of a 
kindred spirit, and so is drawn by this power into 
newness of life. 

2. The second condition of this drawing is superi- 
ority. In matter as we have seen attraction is regu- 
lated by density and bulk. Apples and stones fall to 
the earth. Stars swing around the sun. The heav- 
enly systems are held in poise by worlds that the 
Divine hand has weighed and measured. The very 
clouds are balanced by this law. 

In the world of spirit attraction depends upon two 
things, capacity, of both intellect and soul, and cul- 
ture. Mind leads mind in proportion to its greatness 
as the sun leads the stars. Genius is sure of both a 
recognition and a following. Born in obscurity, or 
cradled in opulence, living in times of peace or amid 
the tumult and upheaval of national convulsions, 
mind recognizes its master and hastens to do obeis- 
ance to its rightful sovereign. Hence even savages 
have their heroes and demigods. Civilization boasts 
its leaders in Church and State; in philosophy, sci- 
ence, literature and art. And these, in proportion to 



The Attraction of .The Cross. 343 

their greatness, and the culture of their intellects, 
control the thoughts and the faiths of men for an age 
or for the centuries. 

And then, as distinguished from greatness of intel- 
lect there is a greatness of soul that shines out across 
the world's darkness, luminous as stars — great orbed 
spirits that stand like the light house upon the rocky 
reef, and fling the beams of a holy life athwart the 
troubled waters of time, to guide the lost mariner to 
haven and home. Unite these two and you have the 
greatest of earthly attractions. And so, just because 
of this, God, when known must ever be the one absorb- 
ing attraction. Men turn away from God because 
they do not know him. fc< O righteous Father," said 
Jesus, u the world hath not known thee." They look 
upward through the distorted medium of their own 
passions, wi*h blinded eye, perverted taste and warp- 
ed affections, and behold, God is a tyrant grasping the 
thunder bolts. Like Israel of old we flee from him 
with the cry, u Let not God speak to us lest we die." 
And yet, among all people, God is held to be the sum 
of all excellence. Sin has, indeed, reared its barriers 
and dug its impassable gulfs. The divine excellence 
was held to be incommunicable, but by a very neces- 
sity of reason God is the all perfect. And hence, the 
necessity of the incarnation. It was to unravel the 
contradictions, and to make plain the inexplicable. 
It was a revelation in human form of the Divine 
goodness and greatness, his character, and thought. 
The incarnation was infinite wisdom coming in con- 
tact with human thought, dissipating our darkness, 
broadening our vision and leading us out into the un- 
fathomed and unfathomable depths of truth. It was 
Divine goodness coming in contact with human wretch- 
edness and sin, and, though veiled in humanity, pour- 
ing upon our race ablaze of all but insufferable glory. 
What wonder if, when these are conjoined in Jesus, and 
concentered on Calvary, their influence goes out in ever 
widening circles, if all brains are busy with the prob- 
lem, and all hearts are drawn by the spectacle of Christ 
crucified. He has moved along the plane of our being, 
and by the grandeur of his character and the infalli- 



344 West Virginia Pulpit. 

bility of his wisdom, he is captivating and drawing 
to himself the intellects and affections of the world. 

3. The third law of spiritual attraction is the law 
of love. Love ! queen of the graces, brightest gem that 
flashes in the coronet of creation's King. Crowning 
glory of his attributes. Mightier than Hope, that 
star which burns in the forehead of every night, that 
guides the weary pilgrim o'erdesert strands and thorny 
paths and trackless wastes to the haven of rest ; that 
cable of the unseen, that, reaching upward in the 
darkness, grasps the eternal throne. Greater than 
Faith, that inbreathing of the infinite, that unifies and 
magnifies all the forces of the soul, lifting weakness 
into strength, and nothingness to the very verge of 
almightiness. Love ! the soul's inspiration, the power 
that uplifts, ennobles, sanctifies and saves; that power, 
subtle as thought, changeless as truth, lasting as eter 
nity, resistless as God. It is the essence of the divine 
nature and the controller of the divine will. Love is 
the universal, all-potent power. This, when the spirit 
world has broken from its allegiance, and wandered off 
in rebellion towards the blackness of darkness, twines 
about it, binds it again to God, and bids it revolve 
about him in ever narrowing circles, as the center of 
its being forever. When man sinned, amid the all 
but universal wreck of innocence and uprightness, 
there was left one stone that was not overthrown on 
which the temple might again be built. He went 
forth an exile from paradise, but he carried with him 
one virtue to remind him of the glorious past and to 
point him to a brighter future. That corner stone, 
that undying virtue was the love of love. The one 
thing altogether lovely is not intellect, or truth, or 
virtue, it is love. This is a sun that never looses its 
lustre or its power. It shines through all clouds, lives 
through all death, reaches across all distances and 
binds the soul with fetters that neither bend nor break, 

I go to the cell of the hardened criminal. He is cold, 
remorseless, defiant. The law crushes him, but every 
atom of that crushed being remains cruel, daring, des- 
perate. Society spurns him, and like a wounded ad- 
der, with his dying breath he spits back the enven- 



The Attraction of The Cross. 345 

omed poison as his only reply. As I enter, he scowls 
upon me like a demon ; I put my hand on his, and he 
starts back as though each of my five fingers had con- 
cealed a scorpion's sting. I speak of childhood and 
home and mother, and the demon fades from his face 
as the storm cloud vanishes from the summer sky ; the 
voice grows husky and breaks beneath the old emo- 
tion, and the criminal is a child and a penitent. Love 
is the one power to which no human being can ever 
be indifferent. To know that I am loved by any, be 
it child, or beggar, horse or dog, is to enter at once 
into new relations with the one that loves me. Yester- 
day I was indifferent to them. To-day, they alone 
are conspicuous in the passing crowd. Their love has 
evoked my love. " We love him because he first loved 
us." 

Such is the general principle of love, and such is its 
place among the powers that move the soul. But 
there are three things that constitute the degree of 
power which this love exercises upon the life of the 
loved. These are the dignity of the lover, the inten- 
sity of the love, and the degree of its manifestation. 
It is the province of love, of all love, to elevate and 
ennoble. The peasant girl who wakes to the fact that 
she is the object of a peasant's love, is thrilled, uplifted, 
ennobled by the fact. But if that lover be a prince, 
if he be of the royal family, if he sit upon the throne, 
how, as you ascend the scale, does that love become 
more and more potent. It invests her with new dig- 
nity. To be the object of royal love is to be worthy 
of royal honors. She accepts royal service and is 
transformed into the royal likeness. Again: love works 
in proportion to its intensity. It is the nature of 
love to be a devouring passion, a consuming fire. 
Persistent, tireless, discouraged by no rejection, turned 
aside by no repulse, besetting its object on every side, 
pouring out its treasures in kindly offices, until hat- 
red gives place to interest, until interest changes into 
admiration and admiration ripens into affection. The 
vehemence of love is well nigh resistless. Reason is 
answered by reason, force by force ; but love under- 
mines and storms; it burns all barriers, and scatters 
23 



346 West Virginia Pulpit. 

the contagion of its passion until its object catches 
the infection, when that object falls an easy prey, and 
is borne away in triumph in the face of all refusals. 

Once more: love is potent in proportion to the de- 
gree of its manifestation. It is the nature of love to 
sacrifice. This is at once the gauge and measure of 
its truth and intensity. It covets to give. It yearns 
to sacrifice. It lays itself and its possessions at the 
feet of its object. It is no true love that stops like 
Ahazuerus and Herod of old at the half of its king- 
dom. Aid this giving of self for others is to-day the 
most potent of the world's forces. Sacrifice, even in 
the brute, elevates and endears them to us as can noth- 
ing else. My child is struggling in the watersand the 
noble dog plunges into the deep and brings it safe to 
land ; henceforth that dog is to me almost as a second 
child. His home is beneath my roof. He has his 
place at my hearth and his food from my table. He 
is loved and caressed while living, w 7 ept and honored 
when dead. 

Year by year we strew the graves of our dead heroes 
with flowers, and poet and orator recount to us the 
story of their sufferings and sacrifices. The mother 
of Caesar gives her life to save that of her unborn babe, 
and straightway her praise is chanted by all nations 
and through all time. Three hundred Spartans sacri- 
fice themselves at the pass of Thermopylae, and they 
become the synonym of patriotism forever. To sacri- 
fice one's self for another is to be ennobled by that act. 

When Cyrus, the Persian, by a raid into Armenia, 
captured the royal family, he demanded of both the 
king and his son at what price each would be willing 
to ransom his wife. "At the price," said Tigranes, "of 
a thousand lives, if I had them." Afterward, when 
Tigranes asked his wife what she thought of Cyrus, 
the noble woman replied, " I did not observe him." 
" You did not observe him ?" exclaimed the astonish- 
ed husband, "upon what object, then, did you fix 
your eyes?" " I could only see the man," was the re- 
ply, "who was willing to give a thousand lives as the 
price of my liberty." It is this that lifts the Ida 
Lerves, the Florence Nightingales, steamboat pilots, 



The Attraction of The Cross. 347 

bridge tenders and miners into world-wide renown. 
It is this that in all ages and lands has freighted the 
name mother with all that is sacred and tender and 
noble and pure ; and it is this that has lifted the 
name of Jesus above every name, that at his name 
every knee should bow and every tongue confess that 
Christ is God to the glory of God the Father. This, 
I take it, is the secret of the attractive power of 
Jesus. He reveals to me the fact that God loves 
me. If it thrills me to know that I am the ob- 
ject of a creature's love, what must be the emotion 
when I awake to the fact that the infinite God stoops 
to love, and yearns to embrace me? Can you wonder 
if, while memory is true to her trust, and the human 
heart capable of a sensation, the thought of that hour 
quickens and fires the soul as by a divine afflatus. 
Can you wonder if the soul be well nigh beside itself 
with joy when it feels itself encircled by the Divine 
arms and from sin and ruin it emerges into Divine 
likeness? 

Now, this attraction increases as the evidences of 
the intensity of this love are multiplied. Love is a 
discerner. It may not create; its office is to reveal. 
The world is new-made to the Christian. Providence 
has a new meaning to the child of God. Nature is 
written all over, in every stone and brooklet, and 
mead and mountain, with the evidences of a Father's 
love. Earth is a mansion fitted up and garnished for 
his children by a Father's hand. Through ages be- 
fore which the imagination staggers, God was prepar- 
ing the earth for the home of man ; rearing its moun- 
tains, spreading its plains, mixing the gases for its 
air and water, threading its rocks and silver, sowing 
its sands with gold, and foreseeing the coming frosts. 
He stored away in yonder valleys the fuel for a hem- 
isphere. Behold its garniture of clouds, its enamel 
of flowers ; hark to its music of birds. Behold crea- 
tion at the Christian's feet and for his use. See, too, 
how every providence proclaims this love. The world's 
history, its joys and sorrows, its trials and triumphs, 
successes and failures all come with their instruc- 
tion and warning, and conspire to lift me to the pin- 



348 West Virginia Pulpit. 

nacle of the world's glory and power. Science reveals 
to me the mysteries of nature, but between the lines I 
read the sentence. " My Father loves me." Philoso- 
phy may explain to me the laws of matter and of 
mind, but behind them I see my Father's plans for the 
world's government, and the minds unfolding. His- 
tory may tell me of the rise and fall of nations, but 
amid it all I see my Father's finger pointing me to 
the only pathway of prosperity and power. 

But this truth finds its culmination and highest ex- 
emplification in the Cross. Love finds its climax of 
power in the degree of its manifestation. But how 
shall I speak of that which defies description? Who 
can portray the passing of the infinite to the finite 
— the stooping of God to man — that act by which 
the Creator comes between the creature and his sins 
and lifts the sinner out of his sin into the joy and 
blessedness of a new and holy life — the act by which 
God becomes man to save man, — the love so fathom- 
less that it led the Father to give his only begotten 
Son that whosoever believeth in him should not per- 
ish but have everlasting life — that constrained Jesus, 
the brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
image of his person, to lay aside the glory he had with 
the Father before the worlds were ; to stoop to our 
vileness, to bear our burdens and to share our sorrows ; 
to descend to the lowest and weakest, and worst of our 
kind ; to shame the harlot into chastity, and to lift the 
thief into generous nobleness. The love that made 
him a homeless wanderer in the world of his own crea- 
tion, that he might lead the homeless and hopeless back 
to his Father's house ; the love that led him as a lamb 
to the slaughter; that, when he was nailed to the 
Cross breathed a prayer for his persecutors; the love 
that seized the Cross as the leverage of the world's 
uplifting, that mounted it as a throne of power and 
from its summit of agony shouted, "It is finished" 
to a dying world? This is beyond description. Be- 
hold at once the shame and the glory of the Cross! 
Behold how love transmutes the Cross into a throne 
of power, and the crown of thorns into an aureole of 
glory whose flashing splendors send light, and life, and 



The Attraction of The Cross. 349 

hope, and happiness, and heaven to the remotest verge 
of earth and to the last remnant of our shipwrecked 
tribes. 

My brother, can you wonder that the Cross becomes 
an evangel in all lands and an attraction to all hearts? 
Can you wonder that men lifted by it into newness of 
life exclaim, u God forbid that I should glory save in 
the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ?" Oh ! I have seen 
the sun looking down upon the stagnant pool and 
lifting the putrid waters toward itself that they might 
come back in blessings on the land and pearls on the 
sea ; but here, I see the Sun of Righteousness, from 
the Cross on Calvary, lifting the hearts of a blighted 
and ruined race to himself, that he may send them 
forth in his own image, at once the evidences of his 
power, and the demonstration of his love. I have 
seen the early spring coaxing the dried roots and tiny 
seeds of earth until, obedient to his voice they came 
forth to robe the earth with vernal splendors, and to 
scatter o'er lonely heath and rocky wild the fragrance 
of a thousand flowers. And the old oak, bleak and 
bare by the winter's blast, heard the summons, and 
from tiny rootlet to farthest twig, along every avenue, 
the life current has leaped and danced until every 
fibre was animate with life and everv branch was 
crowned with summer glory. But here is a mightier 
marvel. Men, dead in trespasses and in sins, are 
drawn by this new power of the Cross out of the char- 
nel house of vice, and every fibre becomes instinct 
with life. The entire manhood grows radiant with 
every virtue, and aglow with every splendor, that 
flashes in undying lustre from saint and seraph on 
the plains of light. I pass to notice 

II. THE POWER OF THIS ATTRACTION. 

We have seen the power of this attraction in mat- 
ter. It binds worlds into systems and whirls them 
in unvarying harmony about their central sun. But 
the sun itself has a centre, and is flying through 
space with incredible velocity, dragging with it the 
planets and worlds that compose the system. Other 
suns and systems are swung by the same power. 



350 West Virginia Pulpit. 

Somewhere there must be a common centre — a world 
so vast, that it seizes every atom, and world, and sun, 
and system in the universe, binds all to itself, and 
preserves the harmony of the whole without a jar 
through the centuries. This power is beyond com- 
putation. The mind wanders across the illimitable 
fields of space until it is lost and bewildered by the 
rush of countless worlds. The imagination essays to 
explore and fathom the star depths, but it comes back 
on weary wing with the astonished cry, u Lo! these 
are but parts of his ways, but what a whisper of a 
word is heard of him, but the thunder of his power 
who can understand." And yet, this is but a feeble 
illustration of that power that has its centre in the 
Cross of Christ. If those worlds had broken away 
from the central orb, and, with fearful velocity had 
gone crashing through space, wrecking all of life and 
beauty that lay along their destructive path?, and, if 
then, that central world had reached down across the 
vast abysses, and seizing those wandering constella- 
tions, had tied them to itself, and restored the har- 
mony of the universe, then there had been some an- 
alogy, but even then the analogy had been incom- 
plete. That binds matter, this binds souls ; every one 
of whom is perverse, rebellious, depraved; every one 
of whom is, in the very centre of his being, opposed 
to God. 

He has not only broken away from the true soul 
centre, God, but he has formed for himself a new cen- 
tre, selfish, sinful, degraded. About this centre twine 
every affection and power of the soul. To this new 
deity bows every attribute of the being in abject sub- 
mission. How wonderful the power that untwines 
the souls tendrils from the sensuous and sinful, and 
lifts them to clasp the Cross with its ruggedness and 
shame — that turns back the flood of our depraved 
nature and bids the stream of our desires and yearn- 
ings flow upward to its God — that lifts the will, the 
ally and slave of sin, to be, amid trials, temptations, 
persecutions, death, the unchanging champion of 
truth and right. We measure force by the nature of 
the resistance it overcomes. Make this the test. Let 



The Attraction of The Cross. 351 

us see how the Cross overcomes in man all the forces 
of our depraved nature. 

1. There is the love of ease. How men sigh for re- 
pose. They seek the clear sky, the thornless path, 
the unruffled stream : life without its conflicts, pleas- 
ure without pain, honor without its struggles; the 
Alpine heights without its glacier, its precipice or its 
avalanche. How the mass of men, rather than en- 
dure the conflict, place the reins upon the neck of 
their desires, until, bound hand and foot, like Mazeppa 
to his wild steed, they are borne to destruction and 
death. 

The Cross lifts us out of our love of ease. It puts 
within us the u impulse of a new affection. v It sways 
us with heavenly passion. We ask not for ease, but 
duty. We are freighted with responsibility. We are 
enamored with visions of usefulness. Our breath is 
devotion. We shake from us the nightmare of indo- 
lence. We spurn the couch of ease. We ask a place 
to toil. At home or abroad we are apostles, and pil- 
grims, and missionaries. His word is our law. His 
smile our heaven. His nod sends us to the ends of 
the earth. Our most earnest prayer is that we may 
cease at once to work and live. 

2. There is the love of the world. Now, by the 
world I do not mean nature. This is God's world. 
Nor do I mean the duties and avocations of life. I 
mean that spirit of the world, or that pursuit of it, 
which, however innocent in itself, may come in be- 
tween the soul and its God, and so cause an eclipse of 
the Sun of Righteousness. That world of which the 
apostle spake, when he said, "If any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him." We 
speak of it as the love of the pleasures, the honors, 
the wealth of the world. We know the strength of 
this love. For pleasure men have sacrificed wealth, 
and honor, and home, and health ; for honor, riches 
and friends, principle and manhood; for wealth, ease 
and comfort, and truth and right. But what a meta- 
morphosis is wrought by the Cross. And yet, the Chris- 
tian is neither stoic nor ascetic. He is in the world, but 
not of it. Its pleasures are purified, its honors enno- 



352 West Virginia Pulpit. 

bled, its wealth consecrated to holy uses. Pleasure 
consists in the possession of our ideal. We sacrifice 
all things for that which to us is most lovely. But 
the Cross has lifted the veil from the face of God, and 
the Root out of dry ground has become the a chiefest 
of ten thousand and the one altogether lovely." 

This vision of God explains the impassioned utter- 
ance of the old worthies: " Whom have I in heaven 
but thee and there is none on earth that I desire be- 
side thee." " As the hart panteth after the water 
brooks so panteth my soul after thee, God." This 
explains how men offer in one holocaust all that they 
hold dear, dashing to the earth every cup of sordid 
pleasure with the shout — 

" All thy pleasures I forego, 

I trample on thy wealth and pride ; 
Only Jesus will Tknow 
And Jesus crucified," 

Not that the Christian is indifferent to place or 
power, or wealth ; but he wins laurels to lay them at 
the feet of Jesus; he attains power that he may wield 
it for God ; he gains wealth that with it he may push 
forward the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. He 
exemplifies the aphorism of Wesley, which is to u get 
all you can, to save all you can and to give all you 
can." The mean has become generous, the base mag- 
nanimous, the avaricious liberal. He is like } r on res- 
ervoir, that turns upon itself a score of mountain 
streams, and then, rushing through all avenues, and 
streets, and lanes, and alleys, waits and yearns to slake 
the thirst of all, from the prince to the beggar. Oh 
it is being filled with God and overflowing as does he 
upon all about us. 

Did it ever occur to you that all of beauty, of glory 
and of life is simply the overflowing of God? What 
is the glory of the morning but the overflowing of his 
light; what the beauty of the spring, the fragrance 
of the flower, the song of the bird but the overflowing 
of God in beauty, in fragrance and in song? What 
the enamelled cloud, the bursting bud, the waving 
grain and trembling leaf, but channels through which 
God is pouring his thought and love? The laughter 



The Attraction of The Cross. 353 

of childhood is the exuberance of his joy, and the ten- 
derness of a mother's love, the outgushing of his sym- 
pathy. And it is to this height that the Cross uplifts 
us, and into this image it transforms us. 

3. It is stronger than the love of friends. Jesus said 
if any man will come to me and hate not, i. e. love not 
less, father and mother, and brother and sister, and 
wife and children, he cannot be my disciple. The 
other day there stood at my door a young man whose 
appearance indicated early comfort and culture. He 
said, " My father is rich, but he is an atheist. I went 
to a camp meeting and heard of Jesus. They told me 
of his love; that he loved me. I resolved to test it. 
I offered him my heart and he saved me, The story 
flew. It reached my father's ears. When I returned 
home he met me at the door and said, ' Give up your 
religion, or, leave my house forever.' And from that 
time, (two years had passed) I have been a homeless 
wanderer for the love of Jesus." I know T not my 
brethren, whether he spoke truth; but I do know 
that it has been true of thousands. The love of Jesus 
has proved stronger than the love of country and 
home and friends and wealth. For his sake they 
have become homeless wanderers. They have taken 
joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and have " counted 
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus, the Lord." 

4. And once more it is stronger than the love of 
life. " All that a man hath," said Satan, " will he 
give for his life." " He that hateth not his own life," 
said Jesus, " is not worthy of me." Satan lied. Many 
a soldier, thirsting for fame, has, amid the excitements 
of the charge, been reckless of life, and willing to die, 
if, thereby, he might go down to posterity wreathed 
with the immortelle of earthly glory, and numbered 
with the greatest of his country's heroes. The de- 
graded Celt, lacking both culture and courage, mad- 
dened by passion and stimulated by numbers, has en- 
gaged in the riot regardless of life. But the Chris- 
tian has neither the excitement of the charge, nor 
the stimulant of numbers, nor the hope of earthly 
glory. His battles are fought alone. His decisions 



354 West Virginia Pulpit. 

are made in the quiet of his chamber, and in the se- 
clusion of his closet. They are made in the face of 
every allurement that wealth can offer and sophistry 
invent. Look at Daniel. He sees the plot of his ene- 
mies. On the one side are life, and wealth, and fame ; 
on the other, the lion's den and the triumph of his 
foes. Did he hesitate ? No. With his windows open 
towards Jerusalem, and his heart open toward God, 
he walked straight into the den of lions. 

Look at the Hebrew children, daring the fiery fur- 
nace rather than deny their God. Look at Paul tramp- 
ling upon ease and wealth and kindred and fame, 
saying to bonds and imprisonmentsand stripes, l< None 
of these things move me." See, as to yon weeping 
friends he says, a What mean ye, to weep and break 
my heart, I am ready not only to be bound but to die 
at Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord Jesus." Look 
at the long array of martys; the men who kissed the 
stake and sung praises in the fire. Oh, there is a 
power in the Cross that lifts us out of sin and self; 
that makes God all in all. We sing, " give joy or 
grief, give ease or pain, take life or friends away ;" 
and " I count not life dear unto me so that I may win 
Christ and be found of him, not having mine own 
righteousness, but the righteousness which is in Christ 
Jesus." Oh, is it not a luxury to live, and labor and 
die for him who died for me ? 

11 For me my Lord was crucified , 
For me, for me the Saviour died." 

Such is the power of the Cross. 

This is exemplified in the history of all peoples, 
and in all lands. The victories of the Cross are well 
nigh universal. It has elevated the degraded; it has 
refined the barbarous. It is the pillar of cloud by 
day, and of fire by night, marching in the fore front 
of culture, civilization, nobleness, manhood. It 
lifts the world to the Beulah heights of glory, and 
transfigures dead souls until they shine in a Re- 
deemer's coronet as " the brightness of the firmament 
and the stars forever." 



The Attraction of The Cross. 355 

iii. lastly, see the glory of this attraction. 

The Cross attracts, because, as nothing else does, or 
can, it reveals God. It conceals, while it unveils his 
glory. We see God only by the rays which converge 
on Calvary. I go out at noonday, and lifting my eyes 
to heaven, dare, for five minutes, to gaze upon the un- 
clouded sun ; and I am smitten with blindness for my 
temerity : but bye and bye there is seen in the West- 
ern sky a hand like cloud shooting straight from hor- 
izon to zenith and spreading its black wings north- 
ward and south word i/ike an avenging spirit, wrap- 
ping the earth in a mantel of wrath. And now, from 
the eastern sky there comes another, black as the ban- 
ner of night, rushing like a war horse to the charge. 
They meet in mid-air, with the roar of thunder, and 
the gleam and flash of forked lightning, that sets the 
heavens ablaze. Borne on the tempest's breath are 
rain and hail, that come like a deJuge on land and 
sea; and anon, when the storm is hushed, when the 
sun, glowing like a ball of fire, hangs suspended over 
the western hill, while the hoarse thunder is dying 
away in the distance, and the cloud, like the banner 
of a retreating army, is slowly ascending the distant 
hills, there, on its departing folds the sun has imaged 
himself in the glory of the rainbow. I gaze upon it 
with eye undimmed. I drink in its wondrous beauty, 
I am entranced by its splendor. The noonday glories 
are diluted and accommodated to my organ of vision. 

Brethren, thus is it with God. No man hath seen 
him at any time. We could not behold him and live. 
And so, God has shrouded his glories in the person of 
his incarnate Son. He set him down amid the toils 
and trials and tears of humanity and bid us see the 
Godhead shining through. See in the words he spake, 
in the miracles he wrought, and in the life he lived, 
the thought and purpose and glory of God. And 
then, on the Cross of Calvary he gathered up all of 
beauty and of glory that the human eye could bear 
or the heart endure, and through its pain, and death, 
and darkness he has proclaimed that "God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten Son that 



356 West Virginia Pulpit. 

whosoever believeth in him should not perish but 
have everlasting life." Yes, this is the glory of the 
Cross ; it reveals God, and, revealing him, it saves 
man. Here is a sun that never sets, a tie that never 
breaks, a power that never wanes. For eighteen cen- 
turies it has been scattering the mists of prejudice, 
lifting the veil of ignorance, crushing the power of 
hate, and wringing adherents from the ranks of its 
enemies. 

The man ! Oh, how it lifts the entire man. How 
it enlightens the mind, convinces the judgment, pu- 
rifies the affections, sanctifies the will, consecrates the 
energies of soul and body, for time, and for eternity, 
to God. 

"All men." How blessed the promise; prince or 
beggar, sage or savage. Out from that Cross to-day is 
going a mysterious power that is grappling with all 
hearts. It claims all souls as his legitimate empire. 
They are his by right of purchase. He moves upon 
them now for conquest. Already its victories are 
marvelous. It has lifted Christians out of their de- 
nominational littleness and narrowness, and strife 
into the largeness and broadness of Christian sym- 
pathy. It has lifted nations out of barbarism, sav- 
agism and slavery into the culture and liberty of 
Christian civilization. It is lifting them out of fraud 
and oppression and wrong into the rights and privil- 
eges of the highest manhood. 

The Cross is revealing the beauty of holiness, the 
sublimity of truth, the divinity of love, the grandeur 
of man, and the glory of God. It is attracting the 
gaze of the world. It is binding to itself the hearts 
of the nations; until, bye and bye, the last sinner, 
lifted from his sins and allied to his God, the uni- 
verse shall swing about the Cross as its centre forever 
and ever. Amen. 



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